MANILA, Philippines – UAAP Season 80 Women’s Volleyball Best Scorer contenders National University’s (NU) Jaja Santiago and University of Santo Tomas’ (UST) Sisi Rondina went head-to-head on Sunday, February 25, where NU survived the clash and retained its perfect record. 

Before the February 24 weekend kicked off, Rondina and Santiago were tied at number 1 in the Best Scorer category, tallying similar totals of 92 points apiece. However, Rondina’s 25-point outing in their game vs NU catapulted her to the top with 117 points while Santiago came in at 2nd place with 111 points. 

The Lady Bulldogs were ready for the capabilities of UST’s fiery outside hitter. They aimed to repeat heir previous victory over the defending champions De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Spikers by cooling off Rondina just like how they tested DLSU libero Dawn Macandili. 

“Actually, kung sabi nga ni coach last time, si Dawn dive ng dive so why not pagurin natin siya. So ganoon din ang [game plan] ni coach Babes kay Sisi,” said Santiago. 

(Actually, if coach said last time that Dawn keeps on diving and diving, so why not tire her out. So that was the game plan of coach Babes for Sisi.) 

Rondina did the fall for the bait that the Lady Bulldogs were piling pressure on her. The NU team did all they can to make Rondina struggle in carrying the Tigresses’ load in the game. Santiago summarized coach Castillo’s game plan to be about “focusing on the weak (letting Sisi do all the work), avoiding the strong (allowing them to achieve momentum).”

However, the Tigresses still got the best of the Lady Bulldogs in the second set as UST answered back with an 11-2 run that became a major factor for the undefeated to team to drop the set. 

Santiago traced the Lady Bulldogs’ errors to the being “derailed” from the game plan as they allowed the Tigresses to take control of the second set. 

“So sabi ko lang gawin natin ‘yung pace natin, balik tayo doon sa game plan natin. Kailangan natin mag-connect sa bawat isa,” said Santiago.

“Nandoon ‘yung skills eh, nandoon ‘yung palo pero walang connection, walang team work. So sabi ko balik tayo doon sa nagpagana sa atin sa first set.”

(So I said that we should do it at our own pace. We should go back to our game plan. Each person has to connect. The skills are there, the spikes are there but there was no connection, no teamwork. So I said that we should go back to what worked for us in the first set.) 

With regards to Rondina, the Lady Bulldogs were also affected by the fearful mindset of going against one of the most aggressive spikers in the UAAP. This is what Santiago meant by “failing in the mission” to limit Rondina who exploded with 25 points. 

“Andoon kami sa lagay na ‘Ay, Sisi Rondina ‘to, papatay at papatay ‘to’. Kumbaga sabi ko nga sa teammates ko, ‘wag tayong mabulag doon sa Sisi Rondina. Kailangan natin i-face kung ano ‘yung meron sila para makuha natin,” explained Santiago.

(We were at the state that “Ay, this is Sisi Rondina, she will keep on going for the kill.” I said to my teammates: “Let’s not be blinded by a Sisi Rondina. We have to face what they have in order for us to score.”) 

Eventually, the Lady Bulldogs recovered in the 3rd and 4th set once they started believing in their system again. They had to erase their previous mindset on Rondina and its outcome showed in the 4th set where the Lady Bulldogs were able to rally back from an early deficit. 

“So ‘yung mga last nakukuha na (ang palo niya), naba-block na ‘yung (palo niya). Nawawala na ‘yung nakikita nila na papatay ‘to,” said Santiago. 

(So the last attacks that we got, we were able to block the attacks. The mindset of ‘this one can kill’ started to disappear.)

The Lady Bulldogs will be facing the Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws on Wednesday, February 28 at the Filoil Flying V Centre.  – Rappler.com