Who will challenge La Salle?

THE UAAP volleyball games brought back the excitement of the collegiate season for the other half of the school year. The Flying V Arena in San Juan was half-filled with vocal students enjoying the last weekend before classes resume along with volleyball enthusiasts who just happen to like one or two of the four schools scheduled last Saturday afternoon.

I had a relatively comfortable hard-plastic seat high above the crowd net, which was totally far from my usual sideline broadcast position. I had a great view of how the plays unfolded as Ateneo battled University of the Philippines and National University faced University of Santo Tomas.

The chase in the women’s division was defined when the teams took off for the Christmas break.

Defending champion La Salle was undefeated in four starts with NU and Ateneo trying to keep in step. The three top teams have made an early run for playoff slots and will most likely make it.

It’s the fourth spot that looks like a toss-up among Far Eastern University, Adamson University and UST. These are teams in transition, trying to rebuild after winning seasons with very good material.

FEU and UST have the most titles in the history of the tournament but both have current rosters that do not look like championship chasers. Adamson has not managed to win it yet and still has to recruit another stellar roster to make it finally happen.

La Salle is eyeing a fourth straight title that will be one more than their previous ‘three-peat’ from 2003 to 2006. The graduation of stars Michelle Gumabao and Melissa Gohing are not real worries for the Taft Avenue squad as holdovers from last year’s champion team are still around. What coach Ramil de Jesus has done well over the last three years is develop a deep lineup with a bench that can play well with the starters.

So who will offer the most serious challenge to La Salle this year?

Ateneo’s threat over the last two years may have diminished with the graduation of key players like Jem Ferrer, Fille Cainglet, and Gretchen Ho.  The Loyola Heights spikers are also in transition even with the firepower of veterans Alyssa Valdez, Ella de Jesus and Amy Ahomiro. This is a new squad that is learning to play together and has done quite well to date, losing only to NU on opening day so far.

So that leaves NU, which interestingly enough has lost only to La Salle for its lone setback so far this season.  The big question for the Lady Bulldogs is if they will be able to win the crucial games in the playoffs and possibly the finals.

In the Shakey’s V-League first conference last year, NU battled with frayed nerves in the first game of the finals against Ateneo. The Lady Bulldogs managed to settle down in time and took the title in the next two matches. That triumph plus playing the rest of the UAAP season could prove to be beneficial in improving the Lady Bulldogs’ confidence.

Coach Edjet Mabayad has some very talented veterans in the Santiago sisters Dindin and Jaja, Aiko Urdas, Myla Pablo and Mina Aragon who played well against UST. The challenge will not be to sharpen their offense which is already potent but their defense. They will need to improve defensively in every game to be able to match up anew against a La Salle team that hasn’t lost since last year.