Joan Monares has been one of the UP Lady Maroons’ key cogs in their dark horse run for the UAAP Season 87 Women’s Volleyball Tournament.
When the UP Fighting Maroons cracked the NU puzzle last March 26, it was senior Joan Monares who sealed the massive upset, firing an off-speed hit as she took advantage of the Lady Bulldogs’ anticipation of a strong game-winning kill.
Three games later, Monares would once again step up in the endgame, with her State U inching closer to upsetting the DLSU Lady Spikers on Sunday at the historic SMART Araneta Coliseum.
This time around, Bacolod Tay Tung product would fire for a down-the-line kill off a combination play, which completed the Lady Maroons’ intense 26-24, 18-25, 19-25, 25-22, 16-14 shocker over the number two-seeded Lady Spikers.
“Well, I’m grateful na may napagkakatiwalaan, malaking bagay ‘yun para sa akin na maibigay sa akin ‘yung last point, and as much as possible, gawin talaga siyang puntos para sa team,” Monares said moments after the huge victory.
UP’s upset over DLSU, though, wasn’t just some silver lining in a rocky UAAP Season 87 campaign. In taking down the Lady Spikers, the Lady Maroons also kept their Final Four chances alive, improving to a 6-6 record with two games left in the elimination round.
Should they close out UST and Adamson following the Holy Week break, then UP is expected to be in the running for a Season 87 Final Four spot, and might just snap their nine-season playoff drought in the Women’s Volleyball Tournament.
“It has always been a dream ng team makapasok sa Final Four. Sobrang, sobrang tagal na nung last season na pumasok sa Final Four ang UP, so ‘yun ‘yung gusto naming abutin ngayon, ‘yun ‘yung goal ng team ngayon,” Monares said, with the Lady Maroons last making the Final Four in UAAP Season 78 under the leadership of Tots Carlos and Isa Molde.
The potential has been evident within UP throughout UAAP Season 87, having reloaded with a new head coach in Benson Bocboc, and blue-chip recruits such juniors’ MVP Kianne Olango, and one-and-done middle blocker Kassy Doering.
Still leading State U is the veteran trio of Monares, the sensational Niña Ytang, and two-way wing spiker Irah Jaboneta, who have stuck with UP amid their rebuild in the UAAP’s post-pandemic era.
Now that they’re leaders of a young but competitive team, Joan Monares knows that her and her batchmates’ roles now go beyond putting winning numbers, especially now that UP has given their Final Four hopes a massive lifeline.
“As a senior, part ng responsibilities namin maging matapang, mas maunang mag-step up as an ate and as a senior inside the court,” she said in a follow-up interview. “Na i-lift ‘yung teammates namin pag rocky ‘yung start namin, then i-compose ‘yung sarili namin.”
“So it’s a huge responsibility din as an ate, kasi inside the court pinagkakatiwalaan din nila ako, so I hope naman na nagagawa ko ‘yung part na ‘yun along with mga batchmates ko, ayan si Irah.”
Shared purpose
For her part, the rookie Olango is just as determined to clinch a Final Four ticket for UP, having seen the hard work and determination from Monares and her fellow seniors since day one in Diliman.
So, apart from living up to the hype as a blue-chip recruit, bringing the “UP fight” to every game in Season 87 is the former girls’ MVP’s way of paying it forward to her ates as they try to keep up with the UAAP’s current volleyball powerhouses.
“Simula noong pagkadating ko po sa UP, palagi ko po nakikita yung ates, ‘yung hard work po nila. Kasi alam ko na gusto nila talaga nila mag-Final Four, kaya pag may opportunity na maglaro ako sa loob, binubuhos ko talaga para sa team po namin and para sa mga taong tumatulong po sa team namin,” the former Nazareth School-NU opposite hitter said
Doering, a former Cal State San Marcos standout, has long seen this core’s potential to make a Final Four. Now that it’s still within their reach, the six-foot middle blocker just hopes to stay level-headed in her bid to help the Lady Maroons reach this major goal.
“Emotions can run wild, but for m,e it’s just remaining calm and steady in the mind and always taking things one by one. This team has the potential to get to the goal that we want, and again, I’m just so grateful to have come to the Philippines at this time with this group of girls,” Doering said.
Monares had one simple, but huge takeaway when asked about their new recruits’ determination: “Ang pinakamaganda lang sa team namin is hindi lang isang tao ang magsi-step up, so kagaya [against DLSU], distributed ‘yung puntos, distributed ‘yung bola.”
“Of course, grateful kay Jaz [Manguilimotan against DLSU], kasi ‘yun nga, marami siyang pwedeng puntahan, and plays na pwedeng gawin kasi kaya naman ng team.”
And as seen with Doering and Olango’s sentiments, the power of belief is just as important as UP tries to write the perfect ending to a dark horse run in UAAP Season 87.
It’s this very belief that allowed them to upset NU and now, DLSU. So why stop now?
“Sinabi na namin ito ni Niña nung UP game, na bilog ‘yung bola. Pagka lumalaban kami, may chance, hangga’t kumakapit kami, may chance,” said the third-year spiker. “Sabi ko nga kanina, it has always been ‘the’ dream ng team, na mapakapasok sa Final Four, so ilalaban namin.”
Images courtesy of the UAAP Media Bureau.