How about them Lady Falcons?
by rick olivares
It has been an up and down season
for the Adamson Lady Falcons of head coach Airess Padda. They opened the season
with a four-set loss to NU where new acquisition Eli Soyud didn’t perform the
way she was expected to play. And as off this writing, they chalked up their
biggest win of this season and in the Airess Padda era – a four-set win over
defending champion La Salle.
The Lady Falcons played better
against FEU and won a five-setter despite Soyud once more a non-factor. In her
place, Jema Galanza stepped up and middle hitter Joy Dacoron giving a good
account of herself. It seemed Adamson found their groove as they swept UP in
three sets but they fell flat on their faces after UST used Padda’s rather
innocent comments as motivation in a three-set win.
A skid seemed threatened to send
them into a free fall with a five-set loss to Ateneo. The upside was Soyud
played much better. Or has she?
Soyud, in her first season with
Adamson after leaving La Salle, played huge in dealing her former team its
second setback in their past three matches (25-18, 15-25, 25-19, 25-22).
That win gave Padda’s side an
even 3-3 record with one more to play this first round against winless UE. They
have a chance to go above .500 but given the way their season has gone, I don’t
think anyone should bet against anything.
If there is any team that should
wear the “comeback” tag it is the Lady Falcons. May Roque, although she seems
to have lost her starting spot after a knee injury, is hardly a factor now but
at least is in the line-up. Middle blocker and setter Fen Emnas are back after
skipping a year after unhappiness about the coaching change of two years ago.
Like Soyud, Ciara Permentilla is another refugee from another team who has
found her home and groove with this team. And there’s Galanza who has battled
all sorts of health ailments that could have permanently or temporarily
sidelined her career. And she is the sixth best scorer in the league thus far.
Ironically, it is the team’s two
middle hitters – Paat and Dacoron – are second and third in scoring as of
Saturday, February 24. Mylene is currently at eighth spot while Joy is 14th
in the Best Scorer’s ledger. Soyud who seems to have bucked her early season
slump has picked it up and is at 17th with Permentilla not far
behind.
Paat is the third best blocker
and check this out – third best server! I guess, the time away from the team
has served her in good stead.
Yet as good as this team has
gotten, they know they have their work cut out for them. There are positives.
Emnas set perhaps the best match of her career and played much better than her
young but talented La Salle counterpart, Michelle Cobb. As I have written
elsewhere, this team will live and die with Emnas setting which can best be
described as living dangerously. In the vernacular, medyo alanganin. But Fen
has learned so much in the past year or so playing club and school-based
volleyball. While playing with the Bureau of Customs Transformers in the final
season of the Shakey’s V-League, at times she steadied the ship in place of
their Thai setter, Natthanicha Jaisaen. If she can steady her setting and feed
her hitters, this team will take off.
I thought that last year, Padda
was a refreshing change of pace for Adamson. Sure, she got upset a lot at her
team. In English, her thoughts about her team were biting. But you cannot
sugarcoat this. Yet when she delivered her thoughts, it was in the same tone
and unlike others who tend to be harsh or even sarcastic.
Right now, the Adamson Lady
Falcons are one of the most fun teams to watch. But I am sure it’s not simply
about having fun but fulfilling the team’s promise. How they attack their next
few matches will greatly tell where they end up because the middle of the pack
of this unpredictable UAAP volleyball season – well, it’s packed. And that
makes it truly a joy to watch.
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