TESTING THE WATERS
This is a season for reinvention for the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons.
With new faces, a new coach and a vital group of players still in residency, the team is feeling out the UAAP Season 87 women’s volleyball tournament.
“This is the first game of the season. Of course, coming into this season, the players are excited and they don’t know yet what to expect,” new head coach Benson Bocboc said in Filipino.
Doesn’t mean they can’t win while testing the waters.
UP started strong then held off a spirit-rattling rally by University of the East in a 25-18, 26-24, 24-26, 13-25, 15-13, victory that ushered in the tournament at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The victory comes amid a massive roster overhaul by the Maroons. More than half of UP’s roster is new, with only a few holdovers connecting this season’s squad to the one that finished 1-13 (win-loss) last season.
Among the remnants of that doormat team are Giesha Capistrano, Niña Ytang, Nica Celis, Joan Monares and Irah Jaboneta.
“When we lost the fourth set, even I panicked,” Monares said after leading UP with 17 points. “But our teammates outside the court reminded us that we can still fight and win the game.”
Holding down the fort
It took a gutsy fifth set, but the Maroons did just that.
After taking the first two frames, UP squandered the chance for a quick sweep as the 11-strong Lady Warriors, following the departures of coach Obet Vital, rising stars Casiey Dongallo and Jelai Gajero and setter Kizzie Madriaga, amped up the pressure to level the match at two sets apiece.
The trio, incidentally, jumped shipped to Diliman and will need to sit out for residency for a year before playing their two remaining years of eligibility.
And while the former UE stalwarts remain in the audience, Monares, promising rookie Kianne Olango, Jaboneta and Ytang will have to hold down the fort as they did in the marathon opener.
“In my first game, I felt nervous because the venue is different, big and has a lot of audience,” Olango, the talented hitter out of National University-Nazareth School, said after turning heads in her debut with 15 points.
“In the next games, I need to be more courageous and smarter,” she added.
The Maroons hope to keep the winning tone as they figure things out in the long road still ahead of them.
“You will always hear that the first game of the season is really important,” Bocboc said. “Good thing we were able to win and I hope this continues. This is a huge thing for us with a new coach, more than half [of the roster] being new players, new experience.
“I think we will fight until the end. We’ll get [our rhythm] eventually.”
