The Year in Sports: Philippine volleyball takes off

Noel Zarate

(Editor's note: The Yahoo! Philippines Sports team looks back at 2013's memorable moments in sports with a series of year-end articles on the topics and events that had the biggest impact on our readers.)

What started out as a novel idea in 2004 when the first Shakey’s V-League game was held before a sparse crowd at the Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) gymnasium has now become the second most watched spectator sport in the country as 2013 saw the mainstream arrival of volleyball. The once obscure sport that had a very small niche following has now blossomed into a televised spectacle that is eagerly awaited and has gained a cult devotion among a new breed of audience.

For many of us who have been involved in the evolution, we saw this coming; but not by the magnitude which it greeted us with this year.

The Shakey’s V-league has long been the premier women’s volleyball league in the archipelago and had seen little competition since its inception a decade ago. Slowly, the collegiate ranks began following suit and when ABS-CBN Sports began broadcasting the women’s matches during the 2008-2009 season, a bigger audience began turning previously unheralded young ladies into cult figures.

ALSO READ: The Year in Sports: In Memoriam 2013

The momentum started gaining ground when the Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles showcased its five star freshmen composed of Canossa Academy’s Ailysse Nacachi, Hope Christian’s Jamenea Ferrer, Immaculate Concepcion Academy’s Gretchen Ho and the St. Scholastica pair of Angeline Gervacio and Fille Saint Merced Cainglet innocently labelled as “Ateneo’s Fab Five”. Little did any of us know that their final salvo as a unit would help usher in the eventual opening of the proverbial floodgates and lead to the sport’s immense popularity today.

It was also fitting that the second component into the 2013 formula was Ateneo’s rival—and two time defending champion—De La Salle University (DLSU). The Lady Spikers had their attempt at a “perfect season” disrupted by Ateneo by losing in Game 1 of the Finals during Season 74 and although DLSU went on to take the next two matches, the old basketball war between the two storied squads had now transcended into the distaff side of another sport.

On February 8, 2013 the “Fab 5” had their first meeting with the reigning UAAP queens. It was the first round of the eliminations and nothing was really at stake. The Lady Spikers were slight favorites heading into the tiff and it was just supposed to be another match in the schedule.

An official total of 19.638 paying audience members packed the MOA Arena to witness the double-header that also had perennial powerhouse UST go up against the up-and-coming NU Lady Bulldogs and wunderkind pagoda Din-Din Santiago. It was—at the time (since this was pre-FIBA Asia) the fourth highest paying attendance in an indoor venue to witness a sporting event in Philippine history. The astounding part of this is that the three sporting events (all basketball) were championship series games all held at the larger Araneta Coliseum. That crowd last February 8th was the biggest crowd on record then for a sporting event at that venue.

La Salle went on to win the match, the subsequent second round rematch and defend its title for the third straight time (and for the second time in a row at the expense of the Lady Eagles). The “Fab 5” never got to experience a title and are now part of history. The championship series also netted tremendous attendance and was also watched by a rabid television audience that sent the saga trending worldwide.

ALSO READ: The Year in Sports: Pinoy Basketball Awards

A few weeks later, the Shakey’s V-League (SVL) would also experience this renaissance to kick off its tenth season.

After inking a new partnership with GMA News TV to broadcast the matches on “day delayed” basis and also upgrade its “live streaming” capabilities, the SVL also enjoyed a bigger influx of fans to the venue and began gaining a bigger televiewership. Due to the increase in fans, the league left the confines of the San Juan Arena for the first time in nearly half a decade to hold its playoffs in bigger venues: MOA Arena and the Philsports Arena.

The semifinal pairings both went the distance and when the dust settled, Ateneo—with four of the Fab 5 in the line-up and reinforced by volleyball ambassadress Rachel Anne Daquis and former league MVP Jaroensri Bualee—battled upstart NU—with former national team setter Rubie de Leon and 17-year-old phenom Jaja Santiago as their guest players—forged a titular showdown that needed all three games to determine the champion.

The Lady Bulldogs once again sent Ateneo home without a crown as they pulled off an inspired triumph in Game Three and signalled the changing of the guard as the Santiago sisters, along with their superstar libero Jen Reyes, now represented a new generation of volleybelles and would become game-changers quite soon.

Breaking an eight year international silence, the SVL sent a selection to compete in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Zonal Qualifiers in Quang Tri, Vietnam as factions within the Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF) could not resolve its internal issues quickly enough, prompting the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) to seek help where there was a sure wellspring of talent. The hastily assembled team endearing labelled as the “12 Brave Souls” by the media finished third out of four participating nations, but still qualified for the AVC Championship.

ALSO READ: The Year in Sports: Gilas Pilipinas enters FIBA World Cup

Then the bombshell that would eventually put volleyball on the sports consciousness map for good: the Philippine Super Liga (PSL) opened.

The PSL, under the helm of its President Ramon "Tats" Suzara and Chairman Philip "Popoy" Juico, aimed to bring FIVB standard tournaments to the Philippines under this new league that would pave the way for creating a professional league in the country.

Its inaugural sortie was a club invitational. Six teams—four of which had corporate backing—participated in the baby steps to bring volleyball into a professional level. Former UAAP MVP Venus Bernal came out of self-imposed retirement and became the first ever league MVP while the Trans Marine Shipping, Inc. (TMS) backed Philippine Army squad composed of mostly veterans from the last legitimate Philippine national women’s volleyball team won the inaugural title.

The SVL continued fanning the volleyball fire when its Open Conference kicked off in late August. Once again the Philippine Army contingent was on the team roster as was the Cagayan Valley Lady Rising Suns (the only other squad in the PSL not backed by a corporation). The Rising Suns unveiled two Thai imports in former youth team members Kannika Thipachot and setter Phomla Soraya. No one had a inkling that these two foreigners would not only leave a lasting imprint on Philippine volleyball, but become major catalysts in redefining history.

Cagayan Valley went on an amazing run during the single-round elimination phase of the tournament by sweeping the opposition.

However, since the PVF had now gotten new interim leadership, the country needed to be represented anew this time in the AVC Championship in Nakhor Ratchasima in Thailand in September. The core of the Rising Suns became the anointed national team and Head Coach Nes Pamilar led the ladies into battle against Asia’s best. The “Power Pinays” (as they were eventually known as) finished thirteenth and along the way picked up a couple of victories.

ALSO READ: The Year in Sports: Parity highlights PBA's banner season

“We’re not as far off from other Asian countries as I thought,” Pamilar said in the vernacular after the tournament. “All we need is a sustaining program and we can catch with these countries.”

The Power Pinays (the bulk of which went back to the Cagayan Valley fold) returned just in time for the playoff stages of the SVL Open and just as people began to call those who saw action a tired bunch after their stint in the AVC tourney.

But Cagayan Valley's two prized imports were very well rested, though.

Immediately the Rising Suns picked up from where they left off and despite clashing in the Finals against a volleyball “dream team” in the Roger Gorayeb-coached Smart-Maynilad Net Spikers featuring Ateneo detonator Alyssa Valdez, former league MVPs Din-Din Santiago, Suzanne Roces and Thailand’s Pheenok Kesinee as well as former Thai youth standout Wanida Kotruang, Cagayan Valley emerged victorious and unscathed as their 16-0 run in the SVL Open made them the first team in league history to complete a “perfect season”.

Also, a previously unheralded 21-year-old from Jordan, Guimaras made the leap to stardom as national beach volleybelle Jovelyn Gonzaga was recognized as SVL MVP.

Soraya’s setting prowess raised many eyebrows as traditionally teams look for spikers and centers from other countries as reinforcements. Soraya inspired two other teams to seek foreign setters as the PSL Grand Prix unfurled just days after the conclusion of the SVL Open.

ALSO READ: The Year in Sports: TPF Pinoy Football Awards 2013

Teams were directed to acquire the services of two foreigners to beef up their line-ups—including the TMS-Philippine Army Lady Troopers which had been training as a unit for over five years. American Kaylee Manns and Japan’s Misao Tanyama were the two setters that saw action and indeed showed how vital an upgrade in that department was for their respective squads.

The PSL Grand Prix also took what was considered a major gamble when it introduced a Men’s Division. Purists of the sport’s progress were apprehensive on tinkering with the winning formula women’s volleyball had brought to the forefront for the longest time. But the four teams that made up the new division brought a distinctly different brand of action to the game.

In the end, the Lady Troopers won their second PSL crown—with a lot of help from their imports in Japanese libero Yuki Murakoshi (eventually feted as Best Libero) and Thailand’s Wanitchaya Luangtonglang (eventually awarded as tournament MVP) while PLDT MyDSL (featuring actor/sportsman Richard Gomez) captured the first ever Men’s championship.

As you read this, the UAAP Season 76 volleyball competitions are very much in full swing while the PSL is now gearing up for its first ever Draft that will have the best graduating or graduated varsity players be selected for professional duty by EIGHT women’s and SIX men’s teams this coming February. The SVL has bared that it will have three conferences in 2014. Volleyball—like its brother sport basketball—has now become a yearlong festivity and the fans have become the biggest beneficiary from its rise to mainstream popularity.

ALSO READ: The Year in Sports: 13 Filipino athletes who excelled in 2013

Heck, even the surprising nuptial of former “Fab 5” member Fille Cainglet to Congressman Lino Cayetano has also grabbed “mainstream” headlines recently.

Volleyball has arrived and it will only be a matter of time before the Philippines begins reclaiming its rightful spot among the elite in the region and eventually even in the continent. Today, names like “Din-Din”, “Alyssa”, “Aby”, “Ara” and “Angge” have become synonymous to volleyball greatness much like names such as “Kiefer”, “Ray-Ray”, “Jeron”, “A.V.O.” and “Arwind” are to the basketball aficionado.

This trend will continue in 2014 and beyond and with all the volleyball now prevalent in the archipelago, this might just be the breath of fresh air long awaited in Philippine sports.

But it was in 2013, the volleyball explosion officially took place.

Follow Noel Zarate on Twitter (@NoelZarate) and email sportztackle@yahoo.com

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