BACARRA, ILOCOS NORTE – Now in the finals of the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference, Jaja Santiago is looking to recreate the magic she did with the Ageo Medics in the Japan V.League V Cup.
The 25-year-old star middle blocker became the first Filipino to win a volleyball title internationally when she helped Ageo take down NEC in the gold medal match last March.
And on Tuesday evening, Santiago inched closer to the first-ever professional volleyball league here in the Philippines after a 25-16, 26-24, 25-23 victory over Choco Mucho in the Game Three of the semifinals.
“I’m really really eager to win the Finals talaga kasi siyempre kung nagawa ko international, why not naman dito sa atin?
“Tiwala ako sa team ko na talagang kakayanin namin, sama sama kami hanggang dulo,” Santiago said moments after the win.
Santiago poured a game-high 17 points off 15 attacks, a block, and an ace to help the Crossovers complete its 2-1 reverse sweep of the Rebisco-backed squad.
Chery Tiggo had to climb its way back to the series after a subpar campaign in the opener which saw them fall in just three sets against a motivated Choco Mucho squad. The team, however, managed to even out the series — all thanks to the huge performances of Santiago and her sister, Dindin Santiago-Manabat.
“Hindi ko talaga inexpect na talagang aabot kami dito. Kami kasi kumbaga one step at a time talaga kumbaga nagtatrabaho lang kami,” said the V-League Season 12 Finals MVP, whose last title with a SportsVision-organized tournament was with PLDT in that same season.
“Sinasacrifice namin lahat and focus lang kami sa lahat ng ginagawa namin kahit anong maging result chinecherish namin iniisip namin and ito na Finals parang wow kailangan dagdagan pa namin yung hard work talaga,” the 25-year-old native of Tanza, Cavite added.
Now that the stage is set for her showdown with Alyssa Valdez and co., Santiago is now laser-focused heading to the finals.
“Mindset namin focus namin, kung ano yung gagalawin namin kasi nagsiswitch naman every game. Hindi natin alam ano talaga gagalawin ng Creamline pero pagaaralan talaga namin sila and titignan namin ano yung nagkulang sa amin ngayong araw na to and ano yung meron kami, iimprove pa namin yun at ilalabas namin yun sa finals.”
