Morado praises returning Maddayag, Tolentino

Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Jia Morado has been a captain for not too long, but Ateneo’s star setter is already acclimated with her new responsibility.

As Ateneo opened its campaign in the UAAP Season 79 women’s volleyball tournament with a resounding sweep of University of Santo Tomas, 25-20, 25-21, 25-22, Morado was quick to handout praises to his teammates.

“They’ve been working hard in training and we saw it in the game,” said Morado Saturday at Smart Araneta Coliseum. “Kat (Tolentino) will always be quiet, but she delivered, and that’s the same with Maddie (Madayag).”

Tolentino has been out of Ateneo’s lineup since last season after three ACL tears while Madayag missed the bulk of the Lady Eagles’ games a year ago due the same injury.

In their first game back, the two combined for 12 points to help Ateneo start off its post-Alyssa Valdez era 

And if the Lady Eagles relied mainly on Valdez a season ago, Morado and her teammates said it would be different this time around. 

“It’s a team effort, we saw in the stat sheet that everybody contributed,” said Madayag, who was cleared to play in November. “It’s nice to see everybody stepping up their game.”

Morado said she won’t have a go-to spiker this season and she’ll make it a point to give her teammates equal opportunities in offense. 

“Everyone will be my go-to, so surprise,” said Morado.