ROGER GORAYEB fought through traffic and the fatigue of coaching a team in the semi-final round to make his way to the Mall of Asia Arena for his University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) coaching return – this time with National University (NU) – during their win over University of Santo Tomas (UAAP) in Wednesday’s Season 77 women’s volleyball action at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The former Ateneo de Manila mentor, concurrently coaching the San Sebastian Lady Stags in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), made his unannounced beeline to the bench at the start of the second set with the Lady Bulldogs taking a one-set lead over UST.
But with NU a few points away from completing a clean sweep after claiming the first two sets via a close 25-23 and 25-22 margins, the team choked in the latter parts and conceded the next two sets to the Tigresses via 20-25 and 22-25 scorelines, respectively.
Then, Jaja Santiago took over, scoring point after point when she utilized her superior advantage in height to lead the Sampaloc-based smashers to a 15-9 win in the match-clinching set.
Santiago played inspired ball, finishing with a career-best 28 points on 22 attacks to lead the Lady Bulldogs to their first triumph since trumping league laggard University of the East in straight sets a month earlier.
Gorayeb would later use his presence on the NU bench as a joke, chiding with the media that he was the jinx of the team upon his arrival on the bench.
“Salamat at nanalo kami, pero kaya lang ako ‘yata ang malas dahil natalo nung dumating ako. Buti na lang nanalo pa rin ang mga bata,” he said.
Turning serious, Gorayeb pointed out the flaws in the team, saying that they have not fully utilized the strengths of Jaja Santiago as a serious threat against all comers.
“Hindi pa namamaximize si Jaja [Santiago],” said Gorayeb of his new middle hitter. “Sinabi ko kay Jaja na she is supposed to be [a] five points per set [scorer]. ‘Yan ang kakayahan niya na five points minimum, kasi she is the tallest player, kahit siya na lang ang pumalo.”
The Lady Bulldogs move to 3-3 (won-lost) ahead of their match against Adamson University on Sunday, scheduled prior to the much-anticipated showdown between Season 76 finals foes Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University.
[simpleviewer gallery_id=”187″]
