Not one, not six but a team.
The University of the Philippines (UP) Women’s Volleyball Team (WVT) continues to embody the previous season’s theme “Stronger, Better, Together,” as it kicked off its Season 88 campaign with a teamwide four-set win, 25-12, 25-9, 21-25, 25-19, against the University of the East (UE) Lady Warriors on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, at the Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena.
UP’s balanced performance saw 10 of the 11 fielded players contribute to the scoring, securing its season opener victory against UE for the second straight year.
During the warm-up, sophomores Bienne Bansil and Jaz Manguilimotan — who were instrumental in helping the Diliman-based squad achieve an improved finish last season — drew attention by staying on the sidelines and keeping their warmers on instead of joining the pre-game drills.
It was setter Julia De Leon and returning middle blocker Pling Baclay who handled the duties at the front line. Baclay returned just in time after missing Season 87 due to injury, immediately making an impact early in the Season 88 opener, contributing three points off an attack, a block and an ace.
The junior middle blocker first made a name for herself in her rookie year in Season 86, stepping in for Niña Ytang’s absence. She then recorded a season-high nine blocks against defending champions National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs, nearly tying the league record of 11 set by Ateneo’s Maddie Madayag in Season 81.
The maroon jerseys dominated the red-and-white in the first two sets with strong contributions from starters: Irah Jaboneta, Ytang, Baclay, Casiey Dongallo, Kianne Olango, De Leon and Giesha Capistrano.
But after an excellent performance, the Recto-based squad took the lead as the maroon volleybelles lost momentum midway through the third set when Dongallo was kept in the dugout due to back pain.
In her first match back in the UAAP since her rookie year, Dongallo scored 13 points off 10 attacks, two blocks and an ace against her former school.
Determined to regain their early-game footing, the Diliman-based squad came out swinging in the final set, committing only three errors compared to UE’s eight.
To redeem herself from her previous set-point error, Olango fired a quick attack to seal the Fighting Maroons’ first win of the season.
Seniors Ytang and Jaboneta led the scoring for State U with 14 points apiece, while Dongallo and Olango chipped in 13 markers each. The remaining six players who saw action also contributed to the scoreboard, rounding out a teamwide scoring effort.
On the Recto side, team captain Van Bangayan paced the Lady Warriors with 19 points, while Bea Zamudio and Khy Cepada added 14 and 10, respectively.
UP head coach Fabio Menta reassured in a post-game interview that Manguilimotan and Bansil are in good condition and were just held out as part of the team’s strategy in managing a long season.
“This is a very long season. [W]e want to be ambitious and get to the end with a better position than last year. So I’m already studying who’s resting, who’s not resting, who’s going next game [and] who’s going this game,” said the tactician. “I felt that today, we didn’t need too much blocking but we [needed] more attack.”
Despite the early advantage from the win against UE, Menta remained focused on guiding the Fighting Maroons back to the Final Four and acknowledged that the squad still had areas to improve.
“We all know UP hasn’t been in [the] Final Four for 10 years now. That, for a very strong and proud school, is not good. So I’m here to make that miracle [happen] with these girls,” he added. “We’re very focused. And of course, there’s a million things that we can do better, and there’s a million things that we can improve.”
UP WVT aims to stay in the win column as it faces Katipunan neighbors, the Ateneo Blue Eagles, on Sunday, Feb. 22, at the same battleground.
