Santiago, De Leon exchange praises after match

Jaja Santiago. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Bea De Leon and Jaja Santiago are no strangers to each other.

De Leon and Santiago play the middle blockers for their respective teams, they have played against each other countless of times, and they have even been teammates at one point in their careers.

And even though they matched up against each other on Wednesday, the two couldn’t help but compliment one another.

“Bea has improved a lot,” said Santiago of the Ateneo standout who is in her third year in the UAAP. “She told me ‘you’re really strong’ but I told her that ‘you’re still my idol.’”

“She’s still young but she plays like a veteran.”

Santiago’s Lady Bulldogs dispatched De Leon’s Lady Eagles in four sets, 25-17, 25-13, 19-25, 29-27, Wednesday at San Juan Arena to up their record to 2-0 and Ateneo 0-2.

De Leon, for her part, admitted the Lady Eagles struggled to device a plan to stop Santiago’s onslaught.

Though De Leon had a pair of clutch plays, tying the fourth set at 24-24 and 26-26, it was Santiago who sealed the Lady Eagles’ doom by scoring four of NU’s final five points en route to 26 markers.

“You just can’t stop Jaja, you defend her one-on-one, or put a double block on her, it’s just too hard to stop her,” said De Leon, who had 14 points in the loss.