It was the start of the 4th set when we arrived at The Arena in San Juan where the Shakey’s V-League Season 4 is being held. The Ateneo Women’s Volleyball team was leading 2 sets to 1 against Adamson. Momentum was on Ateneo’s side it seemed as they rallied to catch up with Adamson on the 4th set. The score was 18-17 with Adamson slowly losing their lead. I had to find a seat so I can continue watching.

Adding a bit of excitement and twist to its 4th season, the V-League had allowed teams to acquire 2 reinforcement players, or should we say, imports. Teams could either get former members of any school’s volleyball lineup or anyone outside of it. Ateneo’s reinforcement players were wing spiker #12 Kanchana Jindarat (assistant coach turned player from Thailand) and middle blocker #3 Michelle Laborte (proudly made in the Philippines). Adamson, on the otherhand, acquired alumna Jennifer Lopez (that’s really her name) and UE star #7 Suzanne Roces.

So I can see all the action, I decided to sit just at the end of the court where the referees and photographers were. Eventually, Adamson ended up winning the 4th set at 25-20. Thanks to the running attacks made by the very swift and handsome Suzanne Roces. The match was tied at 2-2 and we head on to the final 5th set. It’s a thrilling clash between the Lady Blue Eagles and the Lady (Light Blue) Falcons.

During the first few rallies on the 5th set, Ateneo’s Thailand import #12 Jindarat got injured badly. The Lady Eagle star player collapsed after killing an open attack hit. The game had to be momentarily stopped as Jindarat was given medical attention. She suffered what appeared to be a serious spinal cord injury. The whole crowd was silenced as the injured Lady Eagle agonized in pain and was partly paralyzed. The score was 5-1. Adamson was leading.

Interestingly, this was the second time Ateneo lost a Thai player due to injury. They lost guest player Namphon Intuan because of a knee injury (ACL) during the V-League Season 3.

The game had to continue. Ateneo relied on Laborte with help from veteran Patty Taganas (wing spiker) and Maria Soriano (middle blocker). The Lady Eagles seemed to have found both frustration and inspiration because of the loss of their teammate. The set was tied at 6-6 then 8-8. It was a Laborte-Roces show as they exchanged kills. A running spike play where Roces garnered another point made it 12-9. Adamson was 3 points away from winning.

The Lady Eagles kept fighting and somehow pulled the game to another even score at 12-12. An overhit spike error from Ateneo made it 14-12. As expected Laborte was tasked to deliver her team and made a soft open spike kill just catching the line, 14-13. The next rally was ended by Lady Falcon Roces producing another unstoppable running attack spike with 2 Eagles blocking. 15-13 was the final score. A heartbreaking defeat for Ateneo as they both lost a star player and the match.

NOTE: A few days after the game, I’ve just confirmed that Lady Eagle Kanchana Jindarat suffered from a back spasm during their game against Adamson. She seems to be well now and in fact, is back playing for Ateneo. So the title of the blogpost should’ve been “Backbreaking Ateneo vs Adamson match”.

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