On the day that head coach Jerry Yee was suspended for the rest of the UAAP Season 86 Women’s Volleyball Tournament, University of the East had a scheduled game against Adamson University.
And it may have taken a toll on the Lady Warriors, according to interim coach Obet Vital.
UE started slow, losing the first two sets 19-25, 19-25, before fighting back in the third to extend the match, 28-26.
But the Lady Falcons showed resolve to pull off the win in four sets, escaping in the fourth, 29-27, on Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
“Maybe they’re just thinking about the stuff that’s happening outside the court so they had a very very slow start. By the time they started firing it out, we’re in the third and fourth sets already,” said Vital in the postgame press conference.
“We came out flat. Although we tried to calm them up and talk about the things that needed to be done – especially for today given the situation, very important game and we’re playing for Coach Jerry – so yun na nga,” he continued.
“Sometimes mentally it’s tough for the kids to handle it, especially with having so many rookies on the court and then this issue comes in the last minute.”
Yee was suspended for “acts inconsistent with the league’s objectives” according to the league statement released on Sunday morning.
But the first-year UE head coach also released his statement in a press conference at the nearby Abe restaurant in the SM Mall of Asia Complex.
He claimed that “there was no ethical breach” in his acceptance of the UE coaching offer two weeks after he was released by Adamson shortly after the Season 85 tournament.
Vital, for his part, called on all UE stakeholders to rally under Yee as he believes that there was “no due process” in the suspension.
“This is very important. What happened – and people are not gonna like what I’m gonna say – but what happened to Coach Jerry is not done to Coach Jerry alone. And I need UE – I need UE community, I need the president, I need the student body, the student government, I need everybody to know that this wasn’t only done to Coach Jerry, because we believe that there was no due process,” he said.
“The timing of this being on a Friday right before Adamson. I think they’re not only targeting Coach Jerry. They’ve targeted the players, the UE community, the volleyball program, the whole organization,” he added.
“I would request for UE admin to really, really look into this and see if protocol was properly implemented because ang nangyari is guilty muna eh, wala pang proseso eh.”
Vital implied that it was Adamson who complained “on account of conduct violative of the purposes of the UAAP” knowing that they would be facing each other on Sunday.
Yee was informed of the suspension on Friday.
The process for cases like this is that the UAAP will communicate to the member school, which will then relay the message to the concerned party – in this case Yee.
Yee will then send his response to the school, which will pass it forward to the league.
The deputy coach was hoping that the UAAP asked for Yee’s side on the issue.
Yee’s camp will appeal the decision on Monday.
“My understanding was one side was able to talk and then he was given the punishment, which was not being allowed to play today and I don’t know how long,” said Vital.
“Yun po ang sa akin. Sana, to be fair, they bring everybody to the table and they get to hear the person that’s accusing and the person that needs to defend be able to know what his side is,” he added.
“Nangyari is punishment and it’s not a punishment just to Coach Jerry – if he deserves it ha. We don’t know. We don’t know. But it’s a direct punishment to the kids, to the UE community, to the UE program.”
After the defeat to Adamson, the Lady Warriors absorbed their third straight loss to drop to 1-3 with their next game against the defending champion De La Salle University.
Asked for further clarification of the suspension, the league said in another statement: “An intent to file an appeal having been expressed, we deem it best to address matters in the proper forum, in fairness to all concerned.”
