Bella Belen has once again been named the Most Valuable Player in the UAAP Women’s Volleyball Tournament.
After missing out on the award last season, the 5-foot-7 spiker from Quezon City reclaimed the Most Valuable Player title after amassing 82.2 statistical points on Wednesday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Belen, who is in her third year, demonstrated consistency throughout the elimination round.
The 21-year-old NU stalwart ranked seventh in scoring in the league with 205 points, accumulated from 179 attacks, 15 blocks, and 11 aces.
She stood as the sixth most efficient spiker at 36.53%, the eighth best server at 0.22 per set, the sixth best digger at 2.3 per set, and the second best receiver with a 48.3% efficiency rate.
Belen led the Lady Bulldogs to a 12-2 elimination round record.
“Hindi ko na po tatalbugan yung speech ni Josh (Ybanez) kasi masyadong mahaba. Una po nagpapasalamat ako kay God and sa families namin na laging nakasuporta and sa mga garapatas,” said Belen.
“Pahiram muna po ng tagline ng UST, ibalik ang korona sa Sampaloc, Manila!”
(C) Julius Domondon/UAAP Season 86 Media Team
University of Santo Tomas’ super freshie and this season’s Rookie of the Year, Angge Poyos, was the runner-up in the MVP race with 76.964 SPs.
(C) Julius Domondon/UAAP Season 86 Media Team
Poyos ranked as the second-best scorer in the league with 290 points from 249 attacks, 23 aces, and 18 blocks. She emerged as the third most efficient spiker at 40.75% and the best server at 0.41 aces/set.
Belen (300 positional points) and Poyos (285) secured the first and second Best Outside Spiker titles, respectively.
(C) Julius Domondon/UAAP Season 86 Media Team
Belen’s teammate Alyssa Solomon also regained the Best Opposite Spiker title with 235 positional points after winning it in Season 84.
Solomon, a 6-foot-1 junior from the Lady Bullpups program, was the sixth-best scorer in the league with 207 points on 176 attacks, 18 blocks, and 13 aces. She was the most efficient attacker at 41.61% and the sixth-best server at 0.26 per set.
(C) Julius Domondon/UAAP Season 86 Media Team
Meanwhile, UST’s Bernadett Pepito retained the Best Libero crown after garnering 243 positional points. The 5-foot-2 defensive whiz, who is in her third year, stood as the best digger (4.2 per set) and the best receiver (55.45%) after the elimination round.
Golden Tigress sophomore playmaker Cassie Carballo was adjudged the Best Setter after tallying 247 positional points — 20 points above De La Salle University’s Julia Coronel.
(C) Julius Domondon/UAAP Season 86 Media Team
Carballo, 21, led with a league-best 4.55 excellent sets per game while also ranking as the second-best server at 0.41 aces per set.
Completing the All-UAAP Season 86 Team for the second straight time are middle blockers Thea Gagate of La Salle and Nina Ytang of the University of the Philippines.
(C) Julius Domondon/UAAP Season 86 Media Team
Gagate, a 6-foot-2 blocker from Cebu, topped the ladder for middles for the third straight season with 195 positional points.
The graduating Lady Spiker ranked 15th in scoring in the league with 150 points and led the league in blocks with 0.77 per game.
On the other hand, Ytang, a third-year Fighting Maroon, concluded the preliminaries with 173 points, placing second in blocks.
Ytang ranked 18th in scoring in the league with 132 points — highlighted by her 0.67 kill block average per set.
(C) Julius Domondon/UAAP Season 86 Media Team
