Head coach: Tai Bundit
Last season: 12-2 (no.1 seed, runner-up finish)
Key holdovers: Maddie Madayag, Bea De Leon, Kat Tolentino, Jho Maraguinot
Key losses: Jia Morado, Michelle Morente, Kim Gequillana
When Alyssa Valdez left Ateneo, captain Jia Morado was able to steady the ship amid uncertainties that comes with the departure of the team’s long time star.
But now that Morado is gone as well, it’s time for the younger start to step up to the plate.
And the leadership of captain Maddie Madayag and veteran middle blocker Bea De Leon was immediately put to test a few months before 2017 ended.
Back in October, then-Ateneo team manager Tony Boy Liao, who has been replaced by Lorenzo Veracruz, revealed that Bundit was not asked to report anymore to the Katipunan campus.
But a shakeup in the team’s internal staff eventually resolved the issue, with Bundit set to resume his head coaching duties for another year.
“After everything that happened, it made the team stronger,” said Madayag. “We got through that phase. Every team has its problems and it just differs on how people respond to them. We faced our problems and that was made us stronger.”
“We just have to trust the process, trust everyone on the team, and trust the coaches,” added Madayag.
De Leon, who has been a vocal leader of Ateneo since Season 79, echoed her captain’s statements.
“The measure of a good team is how you deal with things when they don’t go your way,” said De Leon. “The one thing that I’m really proud of about is when you look at these individuals they’re very good-hearted people.”
“With that comes very good character that allowed us to overcome everything that passed and that tried to bring us down. I think we handled the situation very well and I think we’re a lot stronger in terms of our morals and character,” added De Leon.
And with their offcourt troubles resolved, the Lady Eagles will now look to overcome the departures of Morado, Michelle Morente, and Kim Gequillana who helped lead Ateneo to a 12-2 finish in Season 79.
It now falls on the guidance of Madayag and De Leon to help propel a young team to a championship, the hardware Ateneo has searched for the past two years and avenge their two straight Finals losses to La Salle.
“The team is so young, and a lot of us don’t have as much experience as the others. It’s going to take a lot of work,” said De Leon whose team lost six players after Season 79.
“The team’s going to play its game, the usual happy, heart strong,” said Madayag. “We’ll just give our best in every game and no matter what happens we know that we did our best.”