Ateneo Blue Eagles in the UAAP Season 86 volleyball opener. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines–Ateneo surprised everyone with not-so-usual long-sleeved jerseys to open the UAAP Season 86 women’s volleyball tournament.
The Blue Eagles may have looked good in their long-sleeved kits, but Saturday would be the first and the last time that they would be donning that uniform.
“Actually, we were surprised that we were using long sleeves for our jersey, but we were told that it was only for today so we’ll go back to wearing sleeveless next game,” Lyann De Guzman told Inquirer after their 25-20, 18-25, 23-25, 18-25 loss to new-look University of the East.
“We didn’t know. They just asked us to wear long sleeves. It’s new for us, it was nice naman.”
SCHEDULE: UAAP Season 86 volleyball first round
De Guzman led the Blue Eagles with 19 points and 16 digs but that wasn’t enough to stop the Lady Warriors and debuting Casiey Dongallo, who impressed with 27 points.
It was earlier reported as miscommunication but Ateneo clarified that the Blue Eagles had tried to wear long-sleeved jerseys this season before the UAAP notified the school last Wednesday that said uniforms are not allowed under the FIVB rules.
Ateneo has a window of two weeks to comply to bringing in a new permanent uniform.
De Guzman, though, said her teammates enjoyed playing in a different gear, which is usually commonly used by US NCAA teams.
READ: Sergio Veloso targets Final Four stint for Ateneo in his UAAP coaching debut
“I usually always wear sleeves, so it was normal for me. Most of my teammates felt comfortable in them too,” De Guzman said.
After failing to sustain its first set win and falling to UE, De Guzman believes they need to work on their consistency and trust the process under coach Sergio Veloso.
“We need more consistency and we have to stick to coach’s system, especially at the end,” said the Ateneo spiker. “As you can see, the game was close but we didn’t follow coach’s system down the stretch.
“We’re seniors this year so we need to step up because the team, the rookies, are going to rely on us. We need to show leadership and be role models.”
Ateneo battles last year’s runner-up National University on Saturday next week at MOA Arena.