Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—The Ateneo-De La Salle rivalry is not only limited to basketball and it’s been established that the fiery competition between the two schools has spilled to the women’s volleyball landscape.
The Lady Spikers and the Lady Eagles met each other six straight times in the finals from 2012 to 2017 and that resulted to this massive must-watch spectacle that even regular elimination games between the two squads have become a fixture in the Philippine sporting world.
And the two teams’ meeting in the second round of the UAAP Season 81 women’s volleyball tournament is once again treated with championship atmosphere.
La Salle head coach Ramil De Jesus said the rivalry that constantly draws thousands of live spectators and immeasurable television audiences is normal in the sporting context since it was heavily marketed during the first few years of their matchup
“I think that’s normal because if you’d look at it this was blown up because of the TV because when Ateneo and La Salle started playing each other there was almost no camera crew but now it’s everywhere,” said De Jesus in Filipino Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
De Jesus added that the arrival of Tai Bundit on the Ateneo bench further enhanced the rivalry because that was when the Lady Eagles won their two titles in the league cementing the program as one of the best in the UAAP.
La Salle, though, had already established itself as one the premier volleyball schools in the country winning its first title in 2004—10 years before Ateneo earned its first.
“The television helped and it also improved because Tai arrived,” said De Jesus, who was the architect of all 11 titles that La Salle won in its storied history. “La Salle was already there at the top before Ateneo got its turn.”