Determined to keep momentum, Lady Eagles skip Holy Week break

Ateneo Lady Eagles. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

For the better part of the decade, Ateneo has aligned itself with the elites in the UAAP volleyball landscape.

The Lady Eagles have appeared in six finals, all against De La Salle, winning two titles and part of that success was a relentless work ethic especially when Tai Bundit took over the team in Season 76.

And the current Lady Eagles are planning to continue that tradition.

Captain Maddie Madayag said they decided to train during the Holy Week instead of the enjoying mandatory break they were given from Holy Wednesday until Easter Sunday.

“We’re going to train, we won’t be taking a break,” said Madayag in Filipino in a chat with Inquirer. “We were actually given a break but as a team we decided that we wanted to focus on training.”

“If we don’t train for a long period of time we will be out of condition and we don’t want to stop. We don’t want to see our level of play go down so we decided to continue training.”

Ateneo has clinched at least a playoff for a Final Four in the UAAP Season 80 women’s volleyball tournament as it sits at the second spot with an 8-3 card.

As of March 25, the last game day before going into the Holy Week break, the Lady Eagles are the best team in spiking, blocking, and setting.

The Lady Eagles have a success rate of 30.94 percent in their spike attempts, average 2.53 blocks a set, and norm 9.69 sets per period.

“Last year we trained until Wednesday and had a break on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday,” said Madayag. “But this year we wanted train even if it’s the Holy Week, I think this will be our sacrifice for this year.”