After a dominant 2-0 start to the UAAP Season 88 Women’s Volleyball Tournament, newly-appointed De La Salle University team captain Shevana Laput made one thing clear: the job is far from over.
The Lady Spikers opened their Season 88 campaign with emphatic wins over perennial contenders FEU Lady Tamaraws and, more notably, University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses — a team that had long figured in La Salle’s heartbreaks over the past decade.
For the Fil-Aussie opposite spiker, matchups against one of La Salle’s storied rivals always push the Lady Spikers to bring out their best.
Following her 23-point outing against the Lady Tamaraws, the 21-year-old continued her fine form against the Golden Tigresses, scoring 21 points — 19 of which came in the last two sets — on 17 spikes and four blocks.
“Of course, a strong team like UST pushes us to be the best,” Laput said after the game.
The rivalry has intensified in the UAAP’s post-pandemic era. The Golden Tigresses eliminated La Salle in the Final Four of Season 86, only for the Lady Spikers to return the favor by dashing UST’s championship hopes in Season 87.
And while La Salle has now bested UST in four consecutive encounters, Laput stressed that making quick work of any contender in the highly competitive eight-team field is not the ultimate measure of the Ramil de Jesus-mentored squad’s growth.
(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team
Instead, the 6-foot-2 spiker pointed inward. As La Salle seeks to erase the heartbreak of a third-place finish in Season 86 and a runner-up placing in Season 87, Laput believes the team’s toughest opponent isn’t across the net — it’s within themselves.
“At the end of the day, we are our best opponents, actually. We play better because we want to be better. No matter what team we play against, we’ll always play our best,” Laput explained.
The 21-year-old proved that statement on Sunday evening at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
As Angge Poyos and Xyza Gula mounted a late third-set rally that sent UST to set point at 24-22, Laput stepped up in the clutch. She made two consecutive rejections on Gula, followed by a drop shot that sealed the Golden Tigresses’ first 0-2 start since Season 79 (2017).
For Laput, beyond stepping up against a strong contender like UST, the Lady Spikers draw — and will always draw — motivation and lessons from the heartbreak that marred their past two seasons.
“Definitely for us seniors, having that heartbreak that we’ve had for the past two seasons, we want to come into this season and make bawi and finally capture what we believe is truly ours,” Laput shared.
“At the end of the day, it’s very much a mind game. All of the teams here in the UAAP are skilled, but it’s who wants it more and who wants to win more.”
Lead deputy Noel Orcullo himself applauded Laput’s growth as the Lady Spikers’ skipper — from struggling when Coach De Jesus first appointed her to now fully embracing the role alongside batchmates Angel Canino, Amie Provido, and Lyka de Leon.
“For Shevana, siguro inembrace lang niya yung task na binigay sa kanya sa pagiging captain. Nakita naman namin ’yan nung una, nagsa-struggle siya, ‘eh,” Orcullo said.
“Nung in-announce ni coach na siya team captain, medyo nag-struggle and nag-overthink siya. Sabi nga namin sa kanya, ‘Shevana, yang nasa dibdib mo, guhit lang yan. Hindi mo kailangang buhatin nang buo yung team. Marami kang katulong.’”
#WATCH: MARAMI KANG KATULONG 🏹
Noel Orcullo could not help but be proud of Shev Laput’s growth as La Salle’s skipper in #UAAPSeason88 🏐#ReadMore 👉 https://t.co/qny4x2l6qJ
📹 @ErnestTuazon /Tiebreaker Times pic.twitter.com/puYABCZqsp
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) February 22, 2026
