Three title under three coaches; NU chemistry proves pivotal
Three titles in four seasons. The only thing National University has collected at that same rate? Coaches.
“Every season, our game became sharper because the systems we experienced from the different coaches weren’t too different from each other,” said Bella Belen, who made history by claiming both MVP and Rookie of the Year trophies in her first year with the senior Lady Bulldogs and never slowed down from then.
NU won three titles in the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament under different coaches and in her final year, Belen won her final crown with the Blue and Gold under the multititled pro coach Sherwin Meneses, who steered the Lady Bulldogs to a championship series sweep of La Salle.
“With coach Sherwin, I saw how much his system helped us. A good system is important in volleyball. It’s what we hold onto when we’re inside the court,” Belen said.
The National University Lady Bulldogs has become the modern-day power in UAAP volleyball—a status they reached after ending a 65-year title drought three years ago. When NU won that milestone gold, Karl Dimaculangan was calling the shots.
He guided the squad to a perfect 14-0 (win-loss) card in the eliminations for an outright Finals berth, where the Lady Bulldgos crushed the Lady Spikers.
The Taft-based La Salle, a traditional heavyweight in the tournament, got its revenge in Season 85 by foiling NU’s back-to-back bid.
The following season, NU tapped Norman Miguel and Belen led her teammates to a title conquest of the University of Santo Tomas.
Under Meneses for Season 87, NU rolled to the No. 1 spot with a 12-2 record and easily disposed of Far Eastern University in the Final Four before blanking La Salle in the title showdown that ended last Wednesday.
The constant in all those golden runs were the offensive pairing of superstars Belen and Alyssa Solomon, both of whom wrapped their collegiate stints the same way they entered it—as champions.
“Even if we have different coaches in those three championships, our chemistry was still there,” the three-time MVP Belen said. “We already knew each other. Whoever coach handles us, I know that we can fight and at the same time we can adapt to their system.”
Alexa Mata, Lams Lamina and graduating standouts Sheena Toring and Erin Pangilinan round up that core. And as it turns out, being handled by different mentors wasn’t as detrimental for the Lady Bulldogs who were already playing together since their successful high school days.
“It became easier to achieve our goal because each player had the same goal like the rest of the team,” Solomon said.
