Santiago shrugs off MVP talk

NU’s Jaja Santiago. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Jaja Santiago is no stranger to individual awards—she did win the Best Spiker award two years in a row in the UAAP—but National University’s skipper doesn’t want to think too much of her own glory.

In fact, she doesn’t even want the spotlight to be on herself despite leading the MVP race for the UAAP Season 79 women’s volleyball tournament.

Santiago, after the first round, leads the league in scoring with 18.28 points per game and is the best blocker with an average of .93 kill blocks a set.

“I’m not really looking for anything, all I want is that we reach the Finals and that the team plays well,” said Santiago Wednesday after dispatching Adamson University 25-21, 25-20, 25-19, at Filoil Flying V Centre.

“The individual awards aren’t on my mind yet.”

Santiago, who won MVP awards both in the Philippine Super Liga and Shakey’s V-League, is also the second-best spiker in the league with a success rate of 40.09 percent behind leader Mich Morente who converts on 41.34 percent of her chances.

“I think I’m just thankful for that recognition, but this shouldn’t go into my head because I know in my self that I will still improve,” said Santiago.