Bleachers Brew: Ateneo Volleyball: Endings & Beginnings

Endings & Beginnings

The goals were not easily attainable – a Final Four berth. Ateneo’s volleyball teams did one better as they both finished third.

words and pics by rick olivares

The game for all intents and purposes was over. The Far Eastern University Tamaraws had come all the way back from a set down to go up 2-1 and were 20-13 in the fourth set.

After being assessed for a wrong serve in the second set, the Tamaraws went on an 8-2 run to seize the momentum and level their Final Four match at a set apiece. They used another 8-2 run to take the third set and started the fourth with an 8-0 run. The Ateneo Blue Spikers had collapsed in a big way. Nothing seemed to work in their favor. The Tams ran quick plays leaving Ateneo unable to block much less receive.

With a serve by FEU captain Rodolfo Labrador, the Ateneans worked the ball to AJ Pareja who unleashed one of those powerful spikes of his. The Tams’ Kirk Beliran blocked Pareja and he pointed at Pareja. However, the ball remained live and the Blue Eagles’ setter Ed Ortega ran it once again by Pareja who hammered down an even more powerful smash that dropped right in front of Beliran for an Ateneo point. Pareja pointed his fingers at the Tamaraw in a shooting motion. It was 20-14 still in favor of FEU.

It was an act of final defiance against the cocky Morayta team that upped their trash talking after they took the second set. Ateneo would only score three more points as FEU closed them out 25-17 to advance to the championship round against the defending champs UST. In his act on a field of UAAP play, Pareja served one more time and had scored two points in his team’s last stand.

Five hours later, it was déjà vu all over again but this time, it was the Ateneo Women’s Team that was staring at a three-set sweep and elimination in the Final Four.

Save for Kara Acevedo who was the only Lady Spiker who got significant playing time when Ateneo made the Women’s Final Four for the first time two years ago, no one else had been here. And the nerves showed. They were committing uncharacteristic receiving errors in the first set and were unable to mount any serious offense. As coach Roger Gorayeb called the first timeout in the opening set, he asked his girls one thing – “Nine-nerbyos ba kayo?” Someone answered, “Coach, first time kasi.”

And that was all one needed to know. Even after scoring a point that wasn’t emphatic, Dzi Gervacio looked at the bench and mouthed a “sorry.”

“Bakit ka magso-sorry?” wondered aloud Gorayeb. “Gawin mo ang dapat.” They didn’t respond and the Lady Spikers fell horribly 25-12.

They had a chance to even things up as they shook of the jitters. But a few errors here and there, they lost a heartbreaker 25-22. UST two sets to none.

With the score 19-13 in the third set, Bea Pascual served for Ateneo. A wag from the UST crowd yelled, “Uwian na!” and the Tiger faithful lapped it up.

But the Lady Eagles rattled off five straight points to make a game of it. But it was a case of a little too late. What was characteristic of the game was the Lady Eagles would bury themselves in a deep hole before mounting a last ditch rally. If they rallied in previous games, their endgame magic ran out this time around. The Tigresses won 25-20 and advanced to play defending champions De La Salle. Pascual, in perhaps her final game for Ateneo, presided over that final run.

Andre Joseph Pareja is the first official recruit of the modern Ateneo volleyball program. Simply put, he was offered a full scholarship. At 6’4” he was highly recruited coming out of high school in Lourdes. His older brother Paolo was already playing for Ateneo but there were many more reasons why he chose to go to Loyola Heights as opposed to another zip code.

AJ caught the tail end of a nine-year streak of 0-14s. That’s 126 consecutive losses for the kings of the pain. Somewhere the NU Bulldogs of UAAP basketball know the feeling.

With somewhat better recruiting, better training, and better coaching, the Men’s Volleyball Team was beginning to shed their doormat status. From having zero wins, Pareja’s team slowly and excruciatingly won 2, 3, then ultimately, 9 games as they cracked the Final Four last season only to have dust them off in straight sets. This year, they went a notch higher to finish third place albeit with an 8-6 record. It was their best UAAP finish since 1981 when the Men’s Team lost to UP in the finals.

After the Far Eastern University Tamaraws ended his team’s fairytale run, Pareja was asked to say a few words in front of his team. The light atmosphere prevented any goodbye tearjerker speeches. And Pareja, who was hardly able to practice this year because of his med school studies, left one parting challenge. “Sana ituloy niyo yung sinimulan natin dito sa program natin.”

Bea Pascual played for her Colegio de San Agustin team where her height helped her dominate the high school game. Former team coaching assistant Edwin Leyva, who had been scouting her for some time, invited her to Ateneo. She passed the entrance exam but before she could join the team, Leyva had departed.

Pascual wasn’t one of the first recruits. That honor went to the batch of Karla Bello, Patty Taganas, and Charo Soriano. It was a sharp contrast to the recruiting woes of the men’s team for the women’s game has always been deemed the more glamorous and watched one. After all, that’s what the V-League has done – place women’s volleyball on the map of Philippine sports.

When the women’s team made the Final Four two years ago, they were without Pascual who suffered an ACL injury during a match against Adamson. The following year, she made team captain and come the second round when her younger teammates faltered, she strapped the team on her back. They missed the Final Four largely because they lost five heartbreaking five-setters.

Those loses were largely because of their inexperience and this time, as they made the Final Four with a win (two years ago, the Lady Spikers received an unexpected boost when La Salle forfeited some matches because of a technicality on Jackie Alarca), it played a huge factor in their match-up with battle-tested UST.

Playing perhaps her final year, Pascual got better as the tournament went on. She was named Best Player of the Game twice. And coupled with the maturity of last year’s Fab Four recruits – Dzi Gervacio, Fille Cainglet, Jem Ferrer, and Gretchen Ho -- and veterans Kara Acevedo and Steph Gabriel, their 10-4 record and third place finish was the best ever showing of an Ateneo team in the school’s entire athletic history. They finished the first round at 5-2 and second in the standings. They opened the second round with two straight loses before blitzing the rest of the league with a five match win streak.

Unlike the men’s team, the scene at the women’s dugout was a little more heart-rending. It wasn’t so much that they lost but how they lost it. Clearly, they didn’t bring their A-game. The girls didn’t say much as the team officials gave their terse assessment and profuse thanks for a job well done. After the final huddle she embraced a few teammates and reserved a long one for Ferrer. The two of them communicated well with one another and directed much of the team’s game.

They aimed for the Final Four but they got a bonus and placed third. At once, it was a good year with a bittersweet ending.

The Men’s Team was losing Pareja, libero Vian Seranilla, and utility Justin Tec.

The Women’s Team was losing Pascual, Gabriel, Averil Paje, and Misha Quimpo who did not play a minute in the game. Paje gave quality minutes in her brief stint on the floor.

As the Men’s Team made its way out of the San Juan Arena’s back entrance, by happenstance, members of the team that won the first game after their nine year Dark Age – Mike De Joya, AJ and Paolo Pareja, Renchie Veracruz, and Juan Carlo Dulu couldn’t help but notice the coincidence on being together again. They had their picture taken outside.

As the Women’s Team made their way out of the San Juan Arena’s back entrance an hour after the game had ended, they were surprised to see a huge crowd of fans who had stayed behind. Most of them were students from UST, FEU, Adamson, and La Salle. After rooting for their school team, their second favorite squad was Ateneo. The fans asked to have their pictures taken with them or their autographs or both. It took another 30 minutes for them to get done. Their achievement and third place trophy secure, this – the adoration shown to them – was their consolation.