FINISHING ITS REBUILDING process, the San Beda Lady Red Spikers asserted their grittiness and fortitude for the upcoming Season 99 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Women’s Beach Volleyball Tournament via a first runner-up finish from season 98, and a bronze trophy from the first Gov. Bong Lacson Invitational Cup.
Seeking to usurp the reigning Queens of the Sand
With the Lady Red Spikers eager to avenge its lackluster Season 98 title defense, the team managed to rise among all odds leading to a rivalry game, for a chance to usurp the defending champions, Colegio de San Juan de Letran (CSJL) Lady Knights. Before clinching their spot for the finals, the Lady Red Spikers faced off against the University of Perpetual Health System Dalta (UPHSD) Lady Atlas; who went face-to-face against the Lady Knights from the previous season’s finals.
Seeing the team up against the juggernaut, the Lady Knights, is no simple feat. Nonetheless, Lady Red Spikers Assistant Coach Ray Rosales confessed that the team is “blessed” that they were able to reach the finals. However, he added that by facing off against the Lady Knights, the Lady Red Spikers must acknowledge that they never lost a match for the entire competition or even a single set.
Set last January 28 at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, the Lady Red Spikers prepared to climb the insurmountable challenge of beating the undefeated. With the bright lights and gritty beach of Subic, the Lady Knights will attempt to secure a back-to-back championship finish while the Lady Red Spikers sought to dethrone NCAA Season 98’s Queen of the Sand. Throughout the game, Asst. Coach Rosales instilled in his players to “play (their) hearts out but be smart at the same time.”
As the match progressed, while the Lady Red Spikers struggled against the Lady Knights’ relentless attacks, the team, nonetheless refused to yield. Angel Mae Habacon, from the Lady Res Spikers, mentioned that even during the last remaining minutes of the game, the team fought for “every point until the very last point.” But despite this mindset, it couldn’t simply outweigh the gravity of the Lady Knight’s relentless and unforgiving plays against its opponents.
Sticking true to their record, the Lady Knights cements its legacy as they left the Lady Spikers winless, 21-16, 21-16. With these results, Habacon revealed that the coach was dissatisfied with the results given by the team.
“To be honest, our coach [wasn’t] happy [with] the result because he thought that we weren’t in our full condition and capabilities during that final game. He was so mad at us because he expected us to give it our all, yet we failed to do so. We understood how he felt [at] that time,” Habacon disclosed. She vows, that by the time that the next time she’d face a new opponent, “I’ll do my very best so I can give them a good fight and win the game together with my teammates.”
Despite being dominated by the relentless Lady Knights, the Lady Red Spikers fought their hearts out, manifested in their silver medal finish for the team’s placing.
Asst. Coach Rosales shed light upon the fact that the team has learned from its shortcomings from the previous season, promising to bring the Mighty Red School a championship title.
With the team finishing silver for Beach Volleyball Season 99, Habacon mentioned that the team was now more eager to win and more determined to win every single game; most especially that the NCAA Season 99’s Women’s Volleyball is just right around the corner.
Gov. Bong Lacson Invitational Meet
With the conclusion of the Women’s Beach Volleyball Tournament for Season 98, the Lady Red Spikers must first turn their heads towards Bacolod City for the 1st Governor Bong Lacson Women’s Open Volleyball Invitational Cup—serving as the team’s pre-season warm up that was held last March 2.
In this invitational cup, the team went head-to-head against different volleyball teams from several institutions all over the country, taking part in this two-day tournament. Some of these includes San Beda University (SBU), University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), Central Philippine University (CPU-Iloilo), University of St. La Salle (USLS), University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos (UNO-R), and Bacolod Tay Tung High School (BTTHS).
Asst. Coach Rosales saw this as a “prime opportunity” for the team to further “hone their skills” in preparation for the upcoming season. While the Lady Red Spikers performed well in the invitational cup, Habacon detailed that the team encountered several setbacks, particularly as the games are continuous leaving no room for players to rest. Nonetheless, the experience apparently helped the team to be more “consistent in their services and blockings.”
Talking about their overall performance, the invitational cup became an opportunity for the team to learn and further improve, particularly in maintaining a “strong heart and tough mindset,” as quoted by Habacon.
“We realized that we have so many things that need to be improved individually and as a team. Thanks to that invitational tournament we managed to correct our mistakes during our daily training, and we did learn a lot during that tournament because of the different teams that we played against.” Habacon added.
Following the conclusion of the invitational cup, the Lady Red Spikers bounced back by ending the event with a third-place finish. While the team is currently under its rebuilding process, the Bedan community could only hope that the experience would serve as a leverage for the team to grow stronger in preparation for the next season of the NCAA.
Season 99 awaits
With Season 99’s NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament around the corner, Asst. Coach Rosales saw that the experiences garnered throughout the pre-season will help to “build the team and work around its missing pieces.”
Habacon, who just finished her residency last year, saw plenty of opportunities during Season 99’s Women’s Beach Volleyball Tournament and first Governor Bong Lacson Women’s Open Volleyball Invitational Cup. Even from her own perspective, she saw points of improvement to be worked on.
She thanked the invitational cup, as it showed the team’s cracks, from their daily training to their performance as a Bedan athlete. Habacon also added that the Lady Red Spikers have come to realize that they’d need to “cope with the pressure” and have a “strong heart and tough mindset” in order to win a match.
From Asst. Coach Rosales’ words, the team looks forward towards season 99–marking a new beginning for the women’s volleyball program, while hinting that silver finish of the Women’s Beach Volleyball tournament is a sign that “the best is yet to come for the team.”