Inquirer 7 top UAAP 81 women’s volleyball players: Week 4

Every week, INQUIRER Sports will be ranking the seven best performers in the UAAP Season 80 women’s volleyball tournament. The author will base the rankings on the players’ team standings, statistics, and the intangibles that don’t appear on the stat sheets.

MANILA, Philippines—This year may be the Year of the Pig but Week 4 of the UAAP Season 81 women’s volleyball tournament is the week of the Golden Tigresses.

University of Santo Tomas racked up two straight wins this past week to create a pileup in the second seed of the standings with a 4-2 record to tie La Salle and Far Eastern University.

Ateneo is at the helm with a 4-1 card while University of the Philippines dropped all the way to fifth with a 3-2 record.

National University and Adamson University are tied in sixth with 1-4 records while University of the East is at the bottom at 1-5.

With that out of the way, here are the top seven players that made this week as maddening as it can be.

1. Eya Laure (University of Santo Tomas, opposite hitter)
Weeks on list: 2
Last week: N/A

Eya Laure. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

The Rookie of the Year race has been blown wide open and Eya Laure has left destruction at her wake.

UST’s super freshman was nothing short of spectacular in Week 4, leading the Golden Tigresses to two straight wins with victories over defending champion De La Salle and National University.

The Golden Tigresses’ win over NU meant more to Laure since it was the Lady Bulldogs’ high school team that tormented the UST star and foiled her attempts to get another UAAP title in the girls’ high school division.

Laure released some of her frustration and punished the Lady Bulldogs with 20 points.

More importantly, Laure’s combined 35 points in the week made her the second-leading scorer in the league with a total of 102 points.

2. Cherry Rondina (University of Santo Tomas, outside spiker)
Weeks on list: 2
Last week: N/A

Cherry Rondina. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.netC

“The Cherry Bomb” is explosive as ever and no shelter is strong enough to protect the league from Cherry Rondina.

UST’s superstar is still the offensive mayhem that she is and after leading the Golden Tigresses to two wins this week she’s racked up a total of 105 points to take the top spot of the league’s Best Scorers table.

If Rondina let Laure had her fun against the Bulldogs, she made sure that she was front and center when the Golden Tigresses humbled the Lady Spikers.

Rondina wasn’t fazed with the defending champions pedigree and she proceeded to put up 19 points in the Golden Tigresses sweep of La Salle.

3. Lycha Ebon (Far Eastern University, opposite hitter)
Weeks on list: 1
Last week: N/A

Lycha Ebon. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Laure may have been this season’s favorite for the top rookie honors but Far Eastern University’s Lycha Ebon has also been impressive in her own way.

After her first five games in the collegiate level, Ebon has emerged to be the third-best scorer in the league with a total of 86 points. She’s also led the Lady Tamaraws to two wins this week.

Ebon shone in FEU’s five-set win over University of the East with 21 points and she remained impactful in the Lady Tamaraws’ second victory of the week with 17 points against Adamson.

4. Maddie Madayag (Ateneo de Manila University, middle blocker)
Weeks on list: 1
Last week: N/A

Maddie Madayag. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Ateneo has managed to shrug off its opening weekend loss to La Salle and has so far racked up four straight wins to capture the top spot of the standings when it pummeled University of the Philippines in its lone game this week.

It was a game that had so much hype since the winner gets the No. 1 seed after Week 4 while the loser ends up in fifth.

And the Lady Eagles made sure they would leave the week as the league’s queens after a resounding sweep of the Lady Maroons.

Leading Ateneo’s romp of UP was Maddie Madayag.

Mainly a defensive force, Madayag was Ateneo’s top scorer against UP with 14 points, highlighted by six blocks.

5. Celine Domingo (Far Eastern University, middle blocker)
Weeks on list: 1
Last week: N/A

Celine Domingo. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Celine Domingo is living up to her position.

Middle blockers are there to provide stability for their teams and Domingo has definitely brought that to FEU.

Domingo has been solid for the Lady Tamaraws in their two wins this week, putting up 17 points against UE and 14 points against the Adamson.

As for the bigger picture, Domingo is fifth in the Best Scorers table with 83 total points.

6. Dimdim Pacres (University of Santo Tomas, opposite hitter)
Weeks on list: 1
Last week: N/A

Dimdim Pacres. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Dimdim Pacres is never considered as one of the top stars in the UAAP but she’s always there when UST needs that valuable third option on offense.

When Season 80 Rookie of the Year Milena Alessandrini went down with an injured left knee, Pacres took it upon herself to become UST’s third asset.

Pacres has been a reliable third fiddle to UST’s star duo of Cherry Rondina and Eya Laure.

In UST’s pair of wins this week, Pacres scored a total of 20 points and it wasn’t just her offense that made her of value for the Golden Tigresses.

Pacres was UST’s best digger this week tallying a total of 28 excellent digs.

7. Heather Guino-o (Far Eastern University, outside spiker)
Weeks on list: 1
Last week: N/A

Heather Guino-o. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

FEU has had a stable week and there was one Lady Tamaraw who was polarizing in every sense of the word.

The Lady Tamaraws went 2-0 this week with Heather Guino-o going from dormant to blazing.

After scoring just seven points in FEU’s win over the Lady Warriors, Guino-o fired 20 points to lead the Lady Tamaraws in their five-set win over the Lady Falcons.

Her 20-point explosion pushed Guino-o from the 14th spot in the Best Scorers table to eighth, overtaking the likes of  Eli Soyud, Mary Ann Mendrez, and Isa Molde.