Jaja Santiago admitted to being bowled over by the rapid rise of volleyball in the country after watching the recent knockout duel between her alma mater National University (NU) and Far Eastern University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 86 Final Four at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“When I watch replays of any team in the UAAP, I see the crowd (and said) ‘Wow. This is now the crowd here in the Philippines,’” Santiago said before joining the 13,054 spectators that saw the Lady Bulldogs eliminate the Lady Tamaraws in straight sets.

“When I was still playing for NU Lady Bulldogs, you’d be able to count the supporters. Now, I’m happy and it’s heartwarming to play and inspire not only the adults, but also the young people who want to play volleyball,” said the Japan V.League standout who won Most Valuable Player honors during Season 80.

Still, she has nothing but praise for the current crop of Lady Bulldogs led by Bella Belen, who is bracing for an expected tough outing with University of Santo Tomas in their best-of-three duel for the title.

“Actually, I haven’t seen them play. When they’re playing, I’m playing also. So, the (schedule) doesn’t match the days that I want to see them online. It’s done, or sometimes I’m analyzing games so I wasn’t able to watch.”

“But I know that they’re working hard to be in the finals again. But of course, there are a lot of players who graduated from NU, so the seniors, they’re pushing the rookies, too. And, I think this year in UAAP, the gap between the teams is not too big, so I see that NU has some tough games every day with other teams.”

Santiago arrived in the country two days ago after leading her team JT Marvelous’ to a silver medal finish in Japan.

Though listed by Chery Tiggo as a member of the team, Santiago made it clear that she will be joining the club in the Premier Volleyball League third place game as a spectator since Japan is processing her naturalization.

“You will see me there but I won’t play because I’m in the process (of naturalization). It’s hard to risk,” Santiago said.