HER beloved National University (NU) down and on the brink of elimination by powerhouse De La Salle in the third set, 11-24, graduating Lady Bulldogs star Jaja Santiago could helplessly hope and pray that her teammates deliver as she sat on the bench with libero Gayle Valdez taking her place for back defense purposes in the rotation.
But her teammate Audrey Paran’s attack fell short and the Lady Spikers plunged to their 10th straight Finals appearance, while the Lady Bulldogs fell into tears and hugged their 6-foot-5 skipper as she ended her five-year University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) career with another heart break.
“I really wished that I was there and I will keep on asking Jasmin [Nabor] to set me the ball because I wanted to give my best even we fell short. I want to fight for my team until the end,” said Santiago, who ended Season 80 stint licking the wounds from 25-27, 22-25, 11-25 defeat to twice-to-beat Final Four foe De La Salle on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Santiago, the tallest to play ever in the league at 6-foot-5 and one of the most dominant spikers in the country, was the least successful in the collegiate ranks as she and NU failed to even take a shot at the crown.
But the UAAP is not the last for Santiago. She will again suit up for the Foton Tornadoes for the team’s best-of-theee semifinals against defending champion F2 Logistics in the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix at 7 p.m. today at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
And there is a bigger opportunity waiting for the national team stalwart as she will try her luck to as an import in a Korean team in Italy this May.
“I’ll try to get an opportunity to play outside the country, that is really my plan after the UAAP,” Santiago said. “But before I take that opportunity, I want to rest first and condition my body.I want to bulk up and prepare myself for the opportunity.”
Santiago has passed up two big opportunities. Before college, she was offered to study and play for UCLA and before this season, Thailand’s Bangkok Glass also gave her an offer. But she decided to stay with NU.
Santiago said she has no regrets for sticking with NU and that she will always be a proud Lady Bulldog.
“There are no regrets because I really wanted to go to NU and it helped me to become a better player and the prepared me for more opportunities,” she said. “I was so emotional because I went through a lot of ups and downs with my teammates. The only thing I regret is I failed to give the school a championship.”
Her final playing year started with high hopes with NU topping the first round of the eliminations with a 6-1 win-loss record.
But the horrors of the past two seasons haunted the Lady Bulldogs in the second round and they only one match against University of the East and finished with a 7-7 win-loss card at fourth place.
It was not a fitting end to her UAAP career but her final year was the most memorable for Santiago.
“My last playing year was the most memorable for me because this is where I felt that I went through a lot with NU,” she said.
Image credits: Alysa Salen