WINNINGcoach Ramil de Jesus could be joining hands anew with Finals MVP Shevana Laput when La Salle defends the Season 89 UAAP women’s volleyball crown next year.
PHOTOGRAPH courtesy of UAAP
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Different decades, different generations but the same winning formula.
De La Salle University head coach Ramil de Jesus once again found himself back on the top podium with a new breed of Lady Spikers celebrating with him.
The decorated tactician just steered La Salle to its 13th title overall — all under his watch — following a masterclass in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 88 women’s volleyball tournament.
De Jesus’ La Salle overpowered dethroned National University (NU) in a pair of lopsided matches in the best-of-three finals to complete a flawless return to the throne three years in the making.
“I’m very happy about this championship because this has been our target since after Season 87 — to be back in the finals. I didn’t expect that we would be able to sweep it, 16-0. So proud of my players and my coaching staff,” the mentor said after the Lady Spikers’ clinical, 25-22, 25-16, 25-16, Game 2 win over the Lady Bulldogs on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
It was a promise kept and a favor returned for La Salle after it suffered a finals series sweep last year.
That same championship loss, like other missed titles, only inspired the ever-evolving brain of the successful Lady Spikers program to raise the team’s competitiveness.
“For me, we always try to equal, if not surpass, the level of the champion team,” De Jesus said.
And La Salle did surpass NU and the rest of the field.
For the first time since a failed four-peat back in 2014, the Lady Spikers swept the 14-game elimination round to advance into the final outright.
Fear of a repeat of the ghost of Season 76 put pressure on La Salle while waiting for its championship opponent for more than two weeks.
But seniors Angel Canino, Finals Most Valuable Player Shevana Laput and Amie Provido vowed to finish what the Lady Spikers started.
“I think it’s a big factor that seniors played for Alas Pilipinas and that gave them international exposure. They brought that level of international play to the team and guided our other players to reach that level,” De Jesus said of his national team players Canino and Provido.
Rookie setter Eshana Nunag showed maturity beyond her years with the way she handled pressure, playing consistently in orchestrating La Salle’s fluid offensive flow from her debut game to the final play of the season.
“I guess she’s the missing link in Season 87 and now we have her,” De Jesus said.
Despite the 16-0 sweep, La Salle’s second since winning it all in 2005, De Jesus shared that it wasn’t an easy run.
“Actually, it was a very difficult season for us. From the first round we encountered a lot of struggles. We had games without Shevana. There were times we missed Lilay (Del Castillo) and Mikole (Reyes),” De Jesus said.
“The struggles and adversities we went through were necessary challenges and then it’s more of the same in the second round. So, I thought with those challenges, maybe we’ll be champions this season.”
La Salle did, and in dominating fashion.
The Lady Spikers won the finals series without dropping a single set since achieving the feat back in 2018 when they submitted Far Eastern University.
De Jesus could be looking at a possible repeat next year as no La Salle player entered the middle of the circle of the team’s traditional archer pose, signifying a final farewell to a graduating player.
