Last season’s breakout star was arguably Far Eastern University’s Toni Rose Basas.
In her sophomore year, the FEU-Diliman product cemented her place in FEU’s starting six, averaging career-highs in spiking rate, scoring, and serving.
Basas was primed to make a leap in Season 79 but her campaign started off slowly. To add to her woes, Basas was mysteriously benched in FEU’s win over the University of the East Lady Warriors. Head coach Shaq Delos Santos chose to keep quiet about her status, saying only that it was something that had to be dealt with at the time.
The benching seemed to light a fire in the soft-spoken opposite hitter, as she powered in 20 points and keyed FEU to a pivotal win over the National University Lady Bulldogs.
After the win, Delos Santos revealed that Basas’ benching was both disciplinary and strategic.
“Kasama na ‘yung tinago namin siya pero dinisiplina talaga namin siya,” Delos Santos said of his spiker.
With Basas sitting out against UE, Delos Santos hoped that NU would prepare heavily for their lineup sans Basas. But, more importantly, Delos Santos wanted to teach his ward a lesson.
“Alam niya na ‘yung dapat niyang gawin. Iba kasi ‘yung galaw ng Basas kapag gusto niyang gumalaw nang mabilis,” Delos Santos added.
Basas emphasized that she has her focus back on getting FEU more wins.
“Wala na siyang pressure kasi alam kong kaya ko na ‘yung mga sinasabi nila coach. Basta kapag sinabihan ako nila coach na ito ‘yung kailangan kong gawin, doon na kami magfo-focus talaga,” the Tacloban City native declared.
