February 29, 2012 - The leap day of the leap year. Another day for another finals game of volleyball at San Juan FilOil Flying V arena.
Loren Sion
Me and my friends decided to wear supportive shirts! Here you have it:
Cha Boys
We bought white t-shirts and spray paint just for the game today! Hohoho. Anyway, I'm the one wearing the "H" and the one wearing the "C" is Mico and Jayme is the one wearing the "A". At the back: Kayne, Masa, and Chino.
Lady Spikers doing the Archer stance
We decided to be at the arena by 10am. Because we are Filipinos, the "Filipino time" is applied so we were there by 10:30am. We were shocked that the parking slots are already occupied! Yes! Well it is because there is a championship game between FEU and UST's men volleyball team which started around 10am I guess. So we found another sweet small spot because Mico's mini cooper is capable of parking in that mini spot.
Lady Spikers wearing their championship shirts
Good game Lady Eagles
The the line for the buying of tickets astounded us as it's already long PLUS the sun rays that hit our vulnerable skins. Fortunately I have my umbrella so yeah! And so we waited. Maybe after 20 minutes, we were able to but tickets enough for us and some of our friends who will come from their respective companies (OJT).
I thought our dilemma was over but here comes another one. The line for the entrance has started and we were somehow near, maybe if I estimate the number of people in front of me hmmm... they may be around 100? Sounds near? Well yeah but the catch here is that the entrance is still closed and we have yet to wait for the men's championship game to end! Oh hello again there sun rays. So we waited, waited, and waited once more.
After 2 hours estimated time of waiting with our umbrellas, the line is finally moving! We were able to find good seats somehow! We find our seats based from the angle of the TV camera! HAHAHA. So we picked the spot wherein even the players can also see us when we cheer hohoho.
When we got inside, the ADMU Lady Eagles are already stretching on the battlefield. They really need to win this battle if they want to hold the championship title this season.
After another minutes of waiting, the DLSU Lady Spikers came and their practice routines in the court began. We are so excited to cheer for the ladies specially Cha Cruz! What is the purpose our shirt for if we won't right?
Then the first set has begun. The whole set wasn't that intense in the mid game because the Lady Spiker was able to dominate the opponent by carving the score to 21-16. Most of the attacks this set came from Abi Maraño and Cha Cruz. I think the Lady Eagles just lost their mind set because of the score gap. Still, the Lady Spikers had this set with a score of 25-16. Two more sets and they're good to go for the championship title!
The second set was full of intensity as DLSU executed so many impossible digs and saves! I was like "How did they??? What sorcery?!?!?" most of the time! Most of the attacks came from our captain Cha Cruz and Ara Galang. Mika Esperanza commited a double error, a very rare error for her. The Lady Eagles kept on fighting for this set but it ended with a score of 25-22 in favor of the Lady Spikers. The rookie of the year Ara Galang executed the winning hit of the set.
Now the 3rd and FINAL set came (assuming that this is the final set, well yeah it is) as the Lady Spikers are so pumped up on winning their back-to-back championship. So the game started as the Lady Spikers got the first score of the set delivered by the rookie of the year Ara Galang! What a performance by the rookie!
The game started to flow in DLSU's favor! They got the biggest lead of 8 (18-10). Coach Gorayeb called his last time out and reminded the girls that this i his last time-out and they should do their best. The Lady Eagles are somehow struggling on their receptions but still their attack never fails to surprise me specially Alyssa Valdez' hits. She's got the game but it's still not enough to beat the enthusiasm of the Lady Spikers to get the gold!
The Lady Spikers continued to dominate the Lady Eagles as the score became 20-10 in faovr of the Lady Spikers coming from Michele Gumabao's attack and also credits shall be given also to Esperanza's nice set!
The Lady Eagles obtained their 11th score when Michele Gumabao commited an error. I found it funny, well also she thinks so because she laughed also when she committed that one. Surprisingly, coach Ramil de Jesus also laughed at that one while having a conversation with Michele Gumabao apologizing because of that error. I think Coach Ramil is feeling the vibes that the game is already theirs and he must chill all through out the remaining time before obtaining his 7th championship for the Lady Spikers.
The game continued as the Lady Eagles committed 2 consecutive net violation. A very heart-breaking time to commit those errors. Those violations made the score 22-11.
I just can't explain Alyssa Valdez' fightning spirit as she attacked the DLSU's defense and delivered the 12th score of the Lady Eagles. She just won't let the Lady Spikers to win that easily.
The 23rd score of the Lady Spikers came from Mika Esperanza's drop ball in the setting phase outsmarting the Lady Eagles and giving the ball to the unprepared Denise Lazaro.
The Lady Eagles gained another point as Michele Gumabao accidentally touched the ball that is about to be outside. It's just an accident. Nothing to worry about. And I should say that that was the last point gained by the Lady Eagles in this set.
The end of the game is near as Cha Cruz delivered a very powerful hit that was unbearable for Lady Eagles' Denise Lazaro claiming their 24th point of the set. (24-13)
Cha Cruz is to serve and she didn't knew that it would be her last service of the UAAP season 74. Denise Lazaro's reception was too strong and Ferrer wasn't able to set the ball and just tipped it in BUT the Lady Spikers's defense was just too strong and didn't let that tip in making the score 25-13!!! AND DLSU LADY SPIKERS ARE THE CHAMPIONS THIS SEASON!!!
I just can't help myself but take some pictures too. It's the first volleyball championship I attended so it's a new experience for me. I attended the UAAP 70th season men's basketball championship DLSU against UE and DLSU won. The intensity is somehow alike but it's totally different.
The Lady Spikers are having their time being awarded and pictures being taken as they had their back-to-back championship. Too much so much very much of everything! Cha Cruz was declared the Finals MVP this season. What a great gift to end her career in UAAP.
We didn't went out just yet and waited for the awarding to be done and hoped that Cha would sign our shirts for us! Unfortunately, Cha went out of the arena quickly and didn't have the chance to have our shirts signed. Fortunatelyyyyyy, Abi Maraño came into our side and had our shirt signed by her!!! e were so happy that time. Just unexplainable.
On our way out, we met Manilla Santos. Santos is the only player in the UAAP volleyball who had her jersey number retired. We also met Stephanie Mercado and Jacqueline Alarca. We had our shirts signed by them. If you didn't know, they are former members of the DLSU Lady Spikers.
Outside we waited for the whole team. On our way to the gate where they are about to go out, we passed by a lady with her boyfriend maybe. Then she approached us and asked if she could take a picture of us. We of course said yes. We are no celebrities to disagree. After the picture taking, Mico thought of something and told us about it. He was thinking that that girl could be Cha's relative because she looks like Cha.
Moving on, we found Coach Ramil outside. I don't understand why no one wants to have a picture with the coach. He's also part of the team's success, why not have a picture with the brain of the team right? So there we have it above ^^^^
After some minutes of waiting, the team went outside! They were signing some of the stuffs of the fans. We didn't have our shirt signed because they just entertained fans for about 5 minutes and got inside their shuttle. At that time, Cha isn't yet outside so we still waited.
Cha Cruz came out but she made her way out swiftly as possible into the car. So we haven't got our shirt signed by her. Still we were so happy that our team won the championship!
PS: We found out that the lady who took our picture is really the sister of Cha. Haha.
Animo La Salle!
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