MANILA, Philippines—University of the East hasn’t been the most glamorous program or the past four years compiling a collective record of 4-52 from Seasons 77 to 80.
The Lady Warriors’ best record in the past four seasons came last year after they finished at 2-12 under the tutelage of interim head coach, and UE’s athletic director, Rod Roque.
Considering the team’s futile seasons in the past, a two-win campaign was already considered an achievement for the Lady Warriors and the girls in red had one more comeuppance with regards to their own ability.
UE thrashed Adamson University in straight sets 25-14, 25-19, 25-22, late in the second round of the UAAP Season 81 women’s volleyball tournament to bump its record to 3-9.
That mark may be a humble tally for any team but for UE, it’s already considered as a job well done.
Star libero Kath Arado said that even though UE won’t qualify for the Final Four, it’s still important for them to finish strong in their remaining games to give way for the younger players for the next season.
“This is extremely important for us graduating players that we will leave our teammates with a high level of confidence,” said Arado, who’s in her final playing year, in Filipino. “We don’t want them to go through the same experience that we did in the past wherein every season we’re at the bottom.”
UE is at the sixth spot of the standings and is tied with National University while the Lady Falcons are at the bottom at 1-11.
“Us graduating players broke the curse of UE, so we’re ecstatic with this win,” added Arado who was the Season 77 co-Rookie of the Year and Season 80’s Best Digger and Best Receiver.
Roselle Baliton, who flipped flopped from being a middle blocker and a setter in her years with UE, said the Lady Warriors’ shouldn’t be contented with winning just a couple of games every season and their campaign in Season 81 was the picture of slow but sure progress for them.
“We felt that we shouldn’t just end seasons with two wins under our name or even like my first year when we won nothing,” said Baliton, who finished with 14 points, in Filipino.
As for the team’s offensive conductor, Lai Bendong said UE getting three wins was already an achievement since it’s been nearly half a decade that the Lady Warriors were consistently at the bottom of the ladder.
“This is quite an achievement for us because UE’s always been at the bottom,” said Bendong, who had 24 excellent sets, in Filipino. “We might not be in the Final Four, but we still improved from finishing as the no.8 team.”