It’s back to the drawing board for teams sent to early vacation in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament.
After a quick rest to lick their battle wounds after getting booted out of the Final Four picture, eliminated squads Far Eastern University, Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines and University of the East will have a good head start in recruiting talents that would rebuild their shattered dreams this year for a better outing next season.
Surprise fifth-place finisher Lady Tamaraws, who wrapped their campaign with a 6-8 win-loss record under first year head coach Tina Salak, have already started getting commitments from potential talents as early as February.
Salak, who took over a team that only had one win in Season 84, would rather keep their recruits under wraps as poaching of talents has always been rampant in the collegiate ranks.
As they say, sports is a cycle.
“We actually started recruiting back in February so we already have a few names that have already committed to FEU. Of course, we would like to keep it discreet,” Salak said.
The Lady Tamaraws just before the start of this season lost a prized recruit in former National University-Nazareth School standout Barbie Jamili, who opted to transfer to another UAAP school just months before the start of Season 85.
“We don’t want to be left behind in recruitment but we’ll only take what our team needs. I don’t want to elaborate more on that but we’re working just within the budget that we have. We want to use the slot wisely, the spot that we have on the right recruit,” Salak added.
The Blue Eagles, on the other hand, have a lot of catching up to do after a disastrous campaign that ended with the once-mighty three-time champions missing the semis for the first time in 14 years.
Head coach Oliver Almadro has a lot on his hands in trying to revive the old glory of Ateneo, which ended up in sixth place with a dismal 4-10 slate — its worst in 19 years despite having the likes of strong wingers Faith Nisperos and graduating Vanie Gandler.
“(In the) coming season, we’ll do what we need to do, especially in our program, we have to step up also. I know for a fact that our Athletic Office, our volleyball program, is doing its very best to catch up also,” Almadro, who was pestered by criticisms throughout the season, said.
“Because we are there and then programs catch up so it’s a cycle. As they say, sports is a cycle.”
“Now we have to accept that everybody stepped up. Other teams have improved, other teams stepped up with their recruitment.”
Cellar-dwellers Fighting Maroons and Lady Warriors are also putting premium on good recruitment programs to lift their respective squad for next season.
UP and UE split their elimination round head-to-head to share the bottom on the standings with 1-13 slates.
The Fighting Maroons, however, had it worse than the Lady Warriors after losing their last 11 games including a heartbreaking five-set defeat at the hands of semis-bound University of Santo Tomas last Sunday.
First year UP mentor Shaq de los Santos is keeping his hopes high for next season.
“(Taking in good recruits) would be the No. 1 priority in our planning for next season. We’ll be having a meeting early this week regarding our next move,” De los Santos said.
“Of course, we really need to plan our recruitment to beef up and better the chances of UP next year.”