The UAAP Season 81 Women’s Volleyball iteration of the Ateneo De Manila University Lady Eagles is special for one glaring reason: they’re brutally tall.
Past Lady Eagles teams – especially those under coach Tai Bundit – prided themselves on speed, mostly to compensate for their lack of height. While last year’s Ateneo team could also boast their height, this season’s squad leans on their vertical intimidation the most.
Leading Ateneo’s net vanguard are their trio of veterans, Maddie Madayag, Bea De Leon, and Kat Tolentino. They also happen to be their tallest players, standing at 5-foot-11, 5-foot-10, and 6-foot-1, respectively.
The trio’s dominance encapsulates Ateneo’s league-best blocking, as they occupy the top three positions in individual blocks per set. Madayag stands atop the heap at 0.90 rejections, while De Leon and Tolentino both deny 0.60 attacks per set.
To put things into perspective, the trio has tallied 88 of the Lady Eagles’ league-leading 110 blocks. Moreover, the combined blocks of the three are seven more than second-running La Salle’s combined blocks this season so far.
It turns out, their dominance at the net was urged by first-year head coach Oliver Almadro.
“Our team focuses on blocking talaga,” said Ateneo co-captain Madayag.
“Coach O tells us that block is our attack so we have to take advantage of that.”
“It’s one of the skills that coach pushes us to be good at,” added Tolentino.
“It’s good to see that it shows in the game.”
“We’re very very proud of what we’ve accomplished, that’s for sure,” expressed De Leon.
“Because all these years, we never really focus on the blocks. It wasn’t a bad thing, but it just wasn’t the system. But with this new system of Coach O, we’re just happy that we’re able to deliver with our jobs, kasi ‘yun ang gusto niya eh. He wants blocking, he wants serving, and receiving. So all of those, we really, really focus on. And it’s nice to see na nagta-translate into stats,” the graduating blocker continued.
“So that’s cool, that’s actually pretty cool. One, two, and three.”
