La Salle seniors take leadership mantle in Fajardo’s absence

For the better part of her five-year stay in La Salle, Kim Fajardo was one of the team’s undisputed leaders not only on the matted floor but also off of it.

And now that the wily setter has left the Lady Spikers’ camp, it’s up to the remaining seniors to fill in the void Fajardo left.

Season 79 MVP Mary Joy Baron is aware of Fajardo’s importance in the team, but she’s confident that, together with Kim Kianna Dy and Dawn Macandili, the team’s senior players are capable of guiding the team in Season 80.

“Of course this will be a big adjustment for us since Ate Kim is no longer with us,” said Baron in Filipino. “Although I think we can still compensate for her absence.”

“I think the leadership role will fall to me, Kianna [Dy], Dawn [Macandili] and Des [Cheng] because we’re the seniors in the team.”

Fajardo was an integral part of La Salle’s three championships from Seasons 75 through 79, a span of time when they faced Ateneo for five straight years.

Dy, who was the Season 78 Finals MVP, echoed Baron’s statements that filling in for the role Fajardo left will require not just one person.

“We handle things differently, let’s say this person is more vocal, and this one leads by example,” said Dy in Filipino. “I think that’s something good that we’re not all the same. We have our own strengths, and we have different ways to lead.”

“And now that we’re the seniors, when we’re on the court we should be the last ones to give up especially now that a lot of the players on the team are young,” added Dy.

Macandili, La Salle’s defensive dynamo, added that Fajardo’s departure isn’t just a positional vacancy.

“It’s not just a setter that was gone, but a leader,” said Macandili in Filipino. “So us seniors we’re trying to be as good as a leader as Ate Kim. Right now we’re all helping each other out to guide our younger teammates.”