Bea de Leon of Ateneo reacts during the Lady Eagles’ win over the De La Salle Lady Spikers on Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Bea de Leon knew what Ateneo lacked the first time it faced La Salle this season.
The intensity wasn’t there during that surprisingly lopsided encounter and the energy was low.
With that in mind entering the two rivals’ rematch on Sunday, De Leon provided the fire.
Alyssa Valdez is the unquestioned anchor of the Lady Eagles , but on Sunday, De Leon was their emotional leader.
“Like we said the first game, we knew we lost because they’re really good, but part of it was we weren’t happy,” De Leon said. “We really wanted to bring the intensity and I knew that was one of the things I could bring to my team.”
“I don’t care if I look stupid as long as it contributes to the team.”
De Leon screamed, let her emotions out and walked the talk with 13 points to help Ateneo avenge its embarrassing straight-sets loss with a gritty win in five sets, 21-25, 25-22, 25-16, 21-25, 15-5.
It was the rematch the league waited for and the two teams delivered in a five-setter which saw the defending champions rise to the first seed at the end of the eliminations.
They say “revenge is a dish best serve cold,” De Leon’s dish was a scrumptious one.
“Sobrang sarap, on a scale of one to 10, siguro 10,” De Leon said. “As a team we haven’t had fun on the court like this in a while, and I’m really happy to see it again that all of us are still there.”
“You train so much you kind of forget about your passion for the sport and it’s really nice to play out there for the crowd.”