La Salle’s Fajardo comes to UE’s Baliton’s defense

DLSU Lady Spikers. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Roselle Baliton has been on the crossfire of Internet know-it-alls after she was chosen as one of the setters of the 25-woman pool the Larong Volleyball ng Pilipinas formed.

On Sunday, though, University of the East’s playmaker got a major voice of support.

Kim Fajardo, the longtime skipper of De La Salle University, wanted all those who have nothing positive to say about Baliton to just zip it.

“Let’s give the kid a chance to show what she can do, and you all should stop bashing her online because that can cause her confidence to dip,” said Fajardo after their three-set sweep of University of the Philippines, 27-25, 25-11, 25-17, in the UAAP Season 79 women’s volleyball tournament at Filoil Flying V Centre.

“When you continue bashing her she might think ‘am I that bad?’ or ‘am I that weak? Am I that bad at setting up my teammates?’

Baliton played the setter position for the first time this Season 79 after spending much of her career as a middle blocker due to her 6-foot frame, and this became Fajardo’s point of similarity.

Fajardo was a spiker in high school before she was turned into a setter a year before her first international tournament.

“When I became part of the RP [Republic of the Philippines] Youth, I was just converted to a setter and it wasn’t a year even before I was playing in an international tournament,” said Fajardo.

“And of course Roselle has tried out for the team, and what do we know on what she did during the tryouts? We should never be a hindrance to her development as an athlete.”