NU’s Bella Belen during a game against La Salle in the UAAP Season 87 women’s volleyball tournament.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Bella Belen was on the verge of breaking a league record, but her biggest moment in National University’s (NU) five-set thriller against Far Eastern University (FEU) on Sunday wasn’t about statistics—it was about perspective.
The two-time UAAP MVP unleashed seven service aces, one shy of her own record, and finished with 21 points in NU’s 25-15, 23-25, 24-26, 25-23, 15-8 comeback victory at Mall of Asia Arena. But in the fourth set, with the Lady Bulldogs fighting to stay alive, head coach Sherwin Meneses made a surprising decision—he pulled Belen out.
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“She needed to see what FEU was doing from a different angle,” Meneses said. “We were lucky with the timing when she came back in because that’s when we started our run.”
READ: UAAP: Bella Belen works her service magic again for NU Lady Bulldogs
Belen returned, steadied NU and helped force a fifth set, where she landed her seventh ace to put FEU away.
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The Lady Tamaraws, who pushed NU to a do-or-die Final Four match last season, proved just as resilient this time.
“FEU always fights hard,” Belen said. “Their team is intact just like ours. Everyone here wants to be a champion.”
NU, now 3-0, faces University of the East next Saturday.
The day before, over at FilOil EcoOil Centre, La Salle’s Angel Canino found herself in another battle—not just against Adamson, but against a rising star in Shaina Nitura.
Special
Canino, the Season 85 MVP, led La Salle to a 25-21, 26-24, 25-20 sweep, but the hype surrounding the match was as much about Nitura as it was about the Lady Spikers’ bounce-back win.
“She made our preparations tough. Even before the game, we knew how dangerous she was,” Canino said after Nitura, fresh off a rookie-record 33-point explosion, scored 16 against them. “Coach Ramil [de Jesus] told us she has so many ways to score. She’s fearless, no matter who’s in front of her.”
De Jesus, who has built champions for decades, also saw something special in Nitura.
“She’s young, but she plays with incredible instinct and court sense,” he said. “By the time she’s a sophomore or junior, she’ll be on another level.”
Canino, now in her third season, didn’t dwell on her individual matchup. La Salle had just come off a straight-set loss to NU, and the focus was on regaining their confidence.
“We learned a lot from that loss,” she said. “We had to stop overthinking, ignore the negative comments, and just focus on how we improve as a team.”
La Salle faces UST next, a rematch of last season’s Final Four.
“They don’t give up on any point,” Canino said. “We need to be ready for that.” —INQUIRER SPORTS STAFF INQ