Michelle Cobb will not be suiting up for the De La Salle Lady Archers this coming UAAP Season 84 women’s volleyball tournament.
The 5-foot-4 playmaker announced on Instagram that she is foregoing her final year with La Salle. Cobb bared that collegiate volleyball’s inactivity in the past two years due to the pandemic played a hand in her decision.
“With the volleyball season coming up, I do feel like I owe this post mainly to the Lasallian community.
“The supporters and fans, I am so grateful for all the love and support you have given me and the team throughout the years” expressed Cobb. “Thank you to all of you who were there through the highs and lows, the tears and cheers, the losses and the victories. Aking taos pusong pasasalamat po sainyong lahat.”
“My journey has been crazy and beautiful at the same time. Ultimately, it has been quite an eventful two years and I have made the decision to not continue with collegiate volleyball. I will definitely miss the energy and all the love na wala talagang kupas One thing is for sure though, once a Lady Spiker, always a Lady Spiker. Good vibes lang hehe. Animo La Salle,” she added.
It was a childhood dream for Cobb to play in the UAAP. Standing at just 5-foot-4, she recalled how she worked twice as much just to make up for what she lacked in height.
But despite the obvious disadvantage, Cobb showed in her four years with the Lady Archers that height is just a number.
The playmaker out of St. Scholastica helped La Salle clinch the second and third titles in its three-peat in the UAAP Seasons 79 and 80.
Cobb took the starting gig in Season 81, where the Lady Archers failed to enter the finals after losing to thr Cherry Rondina-led UST in the semifinals. She only played a game in Season 82 before the COVID-19 pandemic put scrapped the entire UAAP season and put the league at a halt for more than two years.
She also thanked her coaches and teammates as well as the La Salle community for helping her become the player and individual that she is today.
“The UAAP was just a dream for the 10-year-old me. It was a stage any young volleyball player would’ve wanted to step on. Coming into DLSU, all I had was a chance. Holding on to that opportunity regardless of the height requirement. Setting aside the “disadvantages”, working twice as much and dedicating my whole self to the sport I learned to love made all the difference,” opened Cobb’s heartfelt Instagram post.
“I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the De La Salle community. Thank you to my coaches and managers for believing in me from the very start. I am very thankful for the wonderful ladies (now turned sisters) I got to share the court with. Let alone to have been a part of one of the best collegiate teams in the Philippines, I am and always will be forever grateful,” she added.
To end it up, Cobb put out a piece of advice for aspiring volleyball players who are experiencing the same struggles that she encountered back when she was still starting.
“And to all my short and petite, tiny but mighty volleyball besties out there, yaaas hellooo ‘di tayo papatalo! I lived out a dream that I did not think was possible and so can you.”
