Wednesday, November 27, 2013

2 shades of Blue: ADMU vs. NU, Who will win?

All right. I know we are all dying to watch our favorite girls battle it out on December 1 in the very much awaited UAAP 76 Volleyball opening.

The AdU vs. DLSU game will be interesting of course but we already saw them play against each other in the Unigames. Unless Pineda and the other tough Lady Falcons will bring out something new, Maraño and the fierce Lady Spikers already have it in the bag.

The more exciting game of course is the ADMU vs. NU game. And I’m not just saying that because I’m an ADMU fan.

Reasons?

First, both teams have suffered some key losses. Ateneo lost the famed Fab 5 while NU lost Nepomuceno (who wasn’t really much of a big scorer but was the team’s "ate" and very reliable clutch player) and of course, the outstanding and almost legendary libero, Jen Reyes.

Secondly, the teams also have some important additions. Of course, NU has the popular sister of their team captain Dindin and the tallest girl in the league, Jaja Santiago. On the other hand, Ateneo has acquired several promising rookies like Ana Gopico who has been coughing out Valdez-like points in some of their tune-up games; Julia Morado who is actually a tall setter (5’7”); and Kim Gequillana who, fans say, plays like Gervacio.

Third, they are both very mysterious. Many people including me expected a DLSU-NU finals showdown in the Unigames in Bacolod. But lo and behold, we saw DLSU settling for 3rd place and NU nowhere in the top 4. I saw a few video of the matches and found NU’s floor defense very scrappy. Yeah, yeah many blame it on the setter Ivy Perez but I think a developing setter will be able to perform better if she was given good second balls. Obviously, even their  four incredible attackers (Dindin, Jaja, Pablo and Aiko) weren’t able to deliver well because of bad floor defense that worsened Ivy’s setting.

ADMU on the other hand didn’t join Unigames so aside from tiny bits of fan videos of their training, not a lot of people have seen them play. Ergo, very few people know how good they are now. True, ADMU lost to NU in the V-league first conference but at that time, NU had veteran setter Rubie de Leon and prolific libero Jen Reyes.

OK. Let’s try to make some wild predictions of who will play better.

Middles: Ateneo's Ana Gopico (5'10) and Mae Tajima (6'2) vs NU's Dindin Santiago (6'2) and Jaja Santiago (6'5). No question. The Santiagos will prevail. Gopico, they say, is very talented but the Santiagos, especially Dindin, will eat her alive. Tajima hopefully will factor in. Hopefully.

Open Hitters: Ateneo's Alyssa Valdez and Kim Gequillana vs NU's Myla Pablo and Carmina Aganon. Another no brainer. Even without the rumored foot injury, Pablo will still not beat Valdez. Nuff said. As for Gequillana vs. Aganon, I think Mina will perform better. She has shown some great talent in the V-league as replacement for Nepomuceno. Her experience with crowds will be a plus.

Setters: Ateneo's Julia Morado (5'7) vs NU's Ivy Perez (5'9). Tall setters here. Nice. But who will play better? Considering experience and playing time with the team, my money is on Ivy Perez. For now. Morado seems to have real talent but we haven’t seen her play under huge pressure or in front of a huge booing crowd.

Liberos: Ateneo's Denden Lazaro vs NU's Fatima General. Lazaro FTW! Despite having some rumored “difficulties” with boyfriend Myco Antonio, I think the prettiest libero in UAAP will fare better than NU’s General. Based on the Unigames videos, she is no Jen Reyes. Yet.

Utility players: Ateneo's Kiwi Ahomiro vs NU's Aiko Urdas. Although Aiko Urdas was ROY last season and was great in the V-League, she didn’t really have much effect in the Unigames. Meanwhile, Ahomiro might not have been exposed much last year (because Gervacio was too good to be subbed), but she played really high quality minutes. Experience and past games considered, this one goes to Urdas for now.

Coach: No. I’m not even going to comment about the coaches. LOL. But I’m really excited to see how ADMU’s Thai coach will be on the court. Mabbayad of course already has a championship under his belt when he coached the Lady Bulldogs to V-League championship earlier this year.

In conclusion, I’m clueless as to who will win. Individual player comparison seems to be a little bit on the NU side. But UAAP is not just about that. The crowd, the pressure, the nerves. These 3 factors have led to many unexpected game results in the past years. And after that FEU win over DLSU in the Unigames, I think it has become even more difficult to predict game results for the UAAP volleyball matches this year. At least for the 1st round.

Comments?

P.S.
I hate scalpers. I hate seeing empty seats in the arena, seats that most probably have been bought by scalpers who are still looking for unlucky fans who are willing to buy them for ridiculous prices. Why don’t the organizers just sell 1 ticket per person on game day? Just before the audience will enter the arena. And to avoid long lines of angry fans, they can set up what, 5 or more ticket booths.  It will ensure that 1 sold ticket = 1 audience member. No more empty seats, no more overpriced tickets, and there’ll be more people watching live.