No other UAAP team made more headlines after Season 79 than the Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles.
Every other month, the Lady Eagles either had a player leave the program or saw a key member absorb an injury.
In November, the chaos came to a crescendo when longtime head coach Tai Bundit left Ateneo, revealing a rift between him and his players. He eventually returned to the team after Ateneo’s University President Fr. Jett Villarin stepped in to smooth things out.
Though the Lady Eagles have lost three starters from last season and soured their relationship with their coach, they’re still contenders this year. But with the teams around them getting better, they may no longer be shoo-ins like the past six seasons.
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This year’s squad is getting a lot of comparisons to Ateneo’s Season 76 team. Back then, the Lady Eagles were not expected to contend after the celebrated Fab Five – Fille Cainglet, Dzi Gervacio, Jem Ferrer, Gretchen Ho, and A Nacachi – all graduated. The Lady Eagles were left with Alyssa Valdez, legendary libero Denden Lazaro, pint-sized hitter Ella De Jesus, and a pair of fresh-faced rookies in setter Jia Morado and winger Michelle Morente, to lead the team.
Bundit also came in that season and totally revamped the program. His twice-a-day trainings are mythic, stripping players of all their confidence, only to build them back up as lethal volleyball players. Alyssa Valdez was good, but she only won the MVP award when Bundit took over.
The Lady Eagles made a magical run in Season 76, climbing a stepladder Final Four and vanquishing a thrice-to-beat De La Salle University, who had beaten them in the previous two Finals.
None of the players from that Season 76 team are still with the team for Season 80. Morado, who became the greatest playmaker in the program’s history, has decided to forego her final year of eligibility. Morente, the team’s best all-around player, transferred to La Salle after academic difficulties. The Lady Eagles will also be without Kim Gequillana and Jamie Lavitoria for the season.
Like Season 76, the Season 80 Lady Eagles are an entirely new team, with only a few veterans left from their previous campaign mixed with a crop of rookies.
But they still have great players on board. Bea De Leon and Jhoana Maraguinot have both featured heavily in Ateneo’s starting six over the past three seasons. Maddie Madayag and Kat Tolentino, the Lady Eagles’ co-captains, are both two full years removed from ACL injuries and are set to have breakout years. Jules Samonte, last season’s Rookie of the Year, will most likely get at a shot at a starting spot.
Ateneo have solid players in numerous positions, but they will need to find consistency in their new setter and libero.
Third-year playmaker Deana Wong has the unenviable task of taking over for Morado. Last season, Morado controlled the game so much that it didn’t matter that the Lady Eagles were one the worst service reception teams in the league. She dragged their offense to the top of the league, and was the second best setter despite having to deal with subpar first touches. Morado was also the team captain last year.
Wong, by all accounts, is a solid and hardworking player. Bundit is not expecting Morado-level play out of her, but he wants Wong to gain confidence and simply play her game.
“Everyone knows naman how good Jia Morado was, mahirap talaga palitan ‘yun. Hindi rin naman ‘yun ‘yung hinahanap ni coach Tai kay Deana,” said Ateneo assistant coach, Karlo Santos.
“Coach Tai just wants Deana to play her game, give her best, and be confident on the court. She has seniors around her to help her out. Nandoon ‘yung guidance ni coach sa kanya and kung ano ‘yung mga pinapagawa ni coach kay Jia, ganoon din naman ‘yung pinagawa kay Deana. More of support talaga si coach Tai.”
Wong will need time to adjust, so the Lady Eagles can’t afford to be one of the worst receiving teams in the league again.
“Reception and floor defense talaga has been our focus nitong off-season. Kailangan maging consistent kami sa mga departments na ‘yun kasi problema nga namin ‘yun last year. Confident naman kami na it’s going to be better,” said Santos.
The Lady Eagles did bring up several players from their Team B and have added a few rookies. But none of them are projected to play heavy minutes immediately, except perhaps rookie libero Sydney Eleazar.
In pre-season leagues, the Lady Eagles have played around with their lineup, trying to maximize their length and athleticism. They’re still a formidable blocking team, but they’ll need to keep spiking at a high clip to overcome some of the better defensive teams in the league.
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Tai Bundit was wrecked when he was first asked not to attend the Ateneo practices anymore back in November. Bundit can barely speak English or Filipino, but his despondent face during the PVL All-Star game said it all.
He was disappointed to learn that some of his players had begun resenting him. After leading the school to its only two UAAP women’s volleyball championships, Bundit could not understand why his methods were suddenly being questioned.
Bundit could not fathom coming back until he talked to Fr. Villarin. The Lady Eagles insist that they’ve patched things up with their coach.
“The measure of a good team is how you deal with things when they don’t go your way. I think, as a team, we were able to do that. The one thing that I’m really proud of about is, when you look at all these individuals, they’re very good-hearted people,” De Leon said.
“With that comes very good character that allowed us to overcome things like sama ng loob and everything else that passed that tried to bring us down. I think we handled the situation very well. I think we’re a lot stronger in terms of our morals and character.”
“I think the team has become super close with everything that’s happened. All the obstacles and hardships that we went through has only made us stronger. It’s very cliché to say that, but I really believe it,” added Tolentino.
“From the beginning, since PVL where we were one of the bottom seeds, we’ve improved so much. We just had our Thailand training and we did really well. We’re not at the peak yet. But, considering our trainings from July to now, there’s definitely been an improvement.”
The Lady Eagles insist that they have fully re-embraced Bundit. Had Bundit left, they probably would have had to rebuild from the ground up. There are very few coaches in the Philippines that are as good as the former Thailand youth team coach.
“Hindi naman din nagtagal ‘yung nangyare with coach Tai. Naagapan agad and naka-recover agad. When it comes to relationship, oo, solid na ulet ‘yung relationship ng girls with coach Tai,” Santos admitted.
“Talagang ‘yung trust nandoon na. Parang father-daughter relationship ulet.”
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The Lady Eagles have made the UAAP Finals every year for the past six years. Some of their staunchest fans don’t even remember the team from Season 73, the last squad not to make the Finals.
But Ateneo are urging fans to temper their expectations. They know that this will be the toughest season they’ve had in a while, and even getting to the Final Four will be a challenge.
“As with any year, I think it’s the same. We’ll always try to give our best and we’ll always try to win. It’s a tough year, as everyone has been saying. We’re going to fight our way through it and make it to wherever out best gets us,” said De Leon.
“I believe in my teammates 110 percent. I think they’ll really show everyone what they’re made of this season and I’m very much excited for them.”
