UE star Kath Arado confident change has come for more matured UE Lady Warriors

MANILA, Philippines—Kath Arado is ready to prove that University of the East won’t be an immediate check mark for other teams.

Like Arado, the rest of the UE Lady Warriors are eager to put the whole UAAP Season 81 women’s volleyball field after their dark days just four years ago.

Arado is already an established defensive force for the Lady Warriors having won the co-Rookie of the Year in Season 77, with University of Santo Tomas’ EJ Laure, the Best Digger, and the Best Receiver awards.

Her team, however, hasn’t received the same success but the years of futility is what fueled UE to get charged up for the 2019 tournament.

“I have high hopes for this season because first off we have six seniors, including me, in this team and you can just see the maturity we have here,” said Arado in Filipino in the Lady Warriors’ Wednesday practice at UE.

Arado didn’t win a single game with the Lady Warriors and her next four seasons saw just four combined victories but she vowed that’s all going to change.

“You can see the improvement and the eagerness of the team because they started experiencing the thrill of winning because most of us played in club teams,” said Arado who herself plays for Generika-Ayala in the Philippine Superliga.

Arado and the Lifesavers captured the bronze medal in the PSL All-Filipino Conference in 2018 but that wasn’t the only medal the defensive menace won in the PSL.

The graduating Lady Warrior also led UE to the bronze medal of the Collegiate Grand Slam.

Arado, who was named the Best Libero in both PSL conferences, said she gets her motivation from her teammates in her path to becoming the best in her position who could even rival Dawn Macandili in their era.

Macandili has the same awards as Arado but the one thing the former De La Salle stalwart has that UE’s ace doesn’t have is the 2nd Best Libero trophy from the Asian Women’s Volleyball Championships.

Nonetheless, Arado is motivated to become the best she can be in hopes of leading UE to volleyball prominence.

“My motivation are my teammates because I do everything for the sake of the team,” said Arado. “Actually I don’t think much of individual awards, and I’d rather help my team through my defense.”