Jennifer Nierva expressed her gratitude to her former high school teammates on Thursday for staying true to their promise of representing National University at the collegiate level.
The Lady Bulldogs recently made history by becoming the fourth team in the Final Four era to complete a 14-game sweep of the elimination round. The team also gained an outright spot in the finals through this feat.
And playing a huge part in this success are rookies Mhicaela Belen, Camilla Lamina, and Alyssa Solomon. They all decided to stay at Jhocson despite receiving multiple college offers. The three were part of the National University-Nazareth School program that won five UAAP girls’ titles in the last eight years.
Nierva had failed to make the Final Four in her rookie year and totally missed her second year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And for this achievement, she could not thank them enough for the gesture.
“Una po, siyempre sobrang thankful talaga ako sa mga bata, ‘yung mga umakyat from high school, kasi for choosing NU talaga,” said NU’s 5-foot-4 defensive ace. “Siyempre maraming offers from other schools, nandun yun. Pero talagang ‘yung loyalty nila, and ‘yung vision nila for the team, talagang binigay nila ‘yung sarili nila. And that’s something.
“I’m very grateful po talaga.”
On her part, Nierva said that she was glad to experience all those hardships in her first two years at NU. After all, those challenges only made this journey much, much sweeter.
“So ‘yung journey nun, masaya ako na napag-daanan ko ‘yung natalo ako, na hindi kami na nanalo. Kasi hindi siguro namin maaabot kung ano yung naabot namin ngayon,” the 22-year-old Nierva said, who finished with 15 excellent receptions and 13 digs in the straight-set win over UST.
“Kung hindi dahil dun sa mga setbacks namin, mga talo namin… So siguro mas naging matatag, mas naging matibay, mas nag-trabaho kami. Kasi natutunan ko na mas may gusto pa akong [patunayan], not just for myself, but for the team and for the school.”
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