Maraño hopes to unleash inner beast

Beast mode was tamed late Tuesday night when the Philippines suffered a big blow in women’s volleyball in the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

The country’s top volleybelles, easily the biggest collection of stars not wearing a Gilas Pilipinas jersey, dropped a 21-25, 25-23, 25-19, 20-25, 15-8 defeat to Vietnam at PhilSports Arena, putting their entire tournament in jeopardy.

Beast mode, of course, is Aby Maraño’s on-court persona. ‘Beast mode don’t care.’ That has been her motto since anchoring a sensational La Salle run in the UAAP during her college years. When that fiery spirit was caged, the national team skipper was reduced to tears.

And it wasn’t because she was sad for herself.

“You know what makes me really sad?” It’s that we lost and I wasn’t able to help prevent that,” Maraño told the Inquirer.

Maraño splits time as middle blocker with Maddie Madayag and she acknowledged that the former Ateneo stalwart stepped up.

And as happy as she was with Madayag’s performance, she was critical of her own.

“As an athlete, all you want to do is help the team. If I’m not on the court, it’s OK. But if I’m on the court and I cannot help the team out? It’s frustrating. I couldn’t help the team.”

But no loss—or losses—will make her give up. Whatever the game is, whatever the stakes are, she vows to step up.
“If I’m in, I’m giving my all. Nothing less,” she said.

Beast mode was tamed Tuesday night. But it wasn’t—never will be—slayed.