Ateneo ended the La Salle juggernaut on Wednesday as the Lady Eagles overwhelmed the defending champion Lady Archers, 23-25, 28-26, 25-23, 25-17, in Game One of the 74th UAAP women’s volleyball finals at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.

Ateneo’s win delivered a strong message that they weren’t just going to lie down and easily hand La Salle, which enjoys a thrice-to-beat edge after sweeping the elimination round, the title.

The last time Ateneo defeated La Salle was on December 16, 2007, when the Lady Eagles scored a 27-25, 25-20, 24-26, 25-16 elimination round win over the Lady Archers.

La Salle, despite committing a number of unforced errors in the first set, managed to erect a 22-17 lead that they protected for a 25-23 opening frame win on a Michelle Gumabao kill.

The Lady Archers, however, couldn’t pull off the same feat in the second as the Lady Eagles tied the match at one-set apiece, 28-26.

Ateneo played catch-up the entire match and was again trailing at 17-13 in the third set but managed to tie the count at 21-all, forcing La Salle coach Ramil de Jesus to call a timeout.

The temporary break, however, failed to stop Ateneo’s momentum as a Dzi Gervacio off the block hit pushed the Lady Eagles one set away from completing the upset.

An error by La Salle rookie Ara Galang gave Ateneo a 16-7 edge in the fourth set but the Lady Archers, behind Abigail Maraño, scored five straight to threaten at 16-12.

Ateneo, however, played steady down the stretch with Valdez joining hands with Cainlet and Gervacio to score timely hits for the Lady Eagles.

Cainglet added 19 hits, three blocks, and 15 digs for Ateneo.

Maraño paced La Salle with 17 points, while Galang and Gumbao chipped in 14 each.

“I’m very satisfied the girls followed the game plan to the letter. Because of our excellent reception, we were able to attack,” said Ateneo coach Roger Gorayeb.

Game Two is at 2 p.m. on Saturday at also at The Arena.

Far Eastern University (FEU), meanwhile, dashed De La Salle’s hopes for a shot at a double championship as the Tamaraws booked a 23-25, 25-19, 25-20, 26-24 against the Green Archers in their knockout semifinals encounter.

The Tamaraws arranged a title showdown with reigning five-time champion University of Santo Tomas in a best-of-three championship starting at 9 a.m. also on Saturday.

JR Labrador finished with 20 points and had seven digs, while Kirk Beliran added 17 hits for the Tamaraws.

John Kevin dela Vega had 15 hits, while Myco Antonio added 12 hits for the Green Archers.

One Big Fight!

via JVP, GMA News

Photo via UAAP Sports

Ateneo got a big lift from rookie Alyssa Valdez and skipper Fille Cainglet to finally snap De La Salle University’s amazing winning streak, posting a 23-25, 28-26, 25-23, 25-17 victory at the start of their 74th UAAP women’s volleyball finals at The Arena Wednesday in San Juan.

With Valdez and Cainglet breaking La Salle’s defense with thunderous spikes time and again, the Lady Eagles bucked an opening setback to hand the Taft-based squad its first defeat in the tournament.

But more than that, the win enabled Ateneo to tie La Salle in their best-of-five title series.

La Salle gained a thrice-to-beat advantage over Ateneo for sweeping the double round elims.

Valdez, a former National youth player who served residency before debuting this season, had 24 points while Cainglet fired 19 as Ateneo won in front of 3,000 roaring fans.

The two drew significant support from Dzi Gervacio and Gretchen Ho who had their own shining moments on the court, too.

They finished with 12 and 10 points, apiece.

The stirring victory gave the Loyola-based volleybelles a ray of hope in their bid to win their first-ever UAAP title.

Game 2 is set on Saturday with the winner incher closer to the crown.

Actually, it was La Salle’s first defeat in 25 games, dating back last year, La Salle appeared resisting Ateneo’s stubborn challenge early, thanks to the time hits of Cha Cruz, Abigail Marano, Michelle Gumabao and rookie Victonara Galang.

But they fell into a maze of errors in the second set, giving the Lady Eagles to level the set at 1-all and gain the momentum.

In the third set, Ateneo trailed 20-16 but Valdez and Gervacio conspired in a mighty attack that all but took the fight out of the Lady Archers.

Marano led La Salle in a losing effort with 17 points.

One Big Fight!

via UAAP | Manila Bulletin

Ateneo barged into the finals by beating University of Sto. Tomas, 25-19, 25-16, 22-25, 25-19, in the step-ladder semifinals last Saturday,

The Katipunan-based Spikers will need 3 victories against the reigning champions to wrest the women’s title.

La Salle enjoys a thrice-to-beat advantage against Ateneo in the finals owing to its 14-game sweep in the eliminations.

Ironically, the Lady Spikers punctuated their sweep with a 5-set drubbing of the Lady Eagles in the elims.

Game time will be at 2 p.m.

The game will be aired live on Studio 23.

Whose side are you on?

via ABS-CBN News |Paul Ryan Tan

 The Ateneo de La Salle University joins the whole Christian community in the observance of the Season of Lent.

What is Lent?

Lent in the Christian tradition, is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter. Lent is a time of sacrifice for Jesus. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer — through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial — for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Conventionally, it is described as being forty days long, though different denominations calculate the forty days differently. The forty days represent the time that, according to the Bible, Jesus spent in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry, where he endured temptation by Satan.

This practice was virtually universal in Christendom until the Protestant Reformation. Some Protestant churches do not observe Lent, but many, such as Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Anglicans do.

For the overachieving Bulldogs, the loss was a learning experience for a team that is a founding member of the UAAP but a first-time participant in the sport in Season 74.

The Green Archers, however, walked the tight rope in regaining the crown they last won in 2008-2009. They were forced to a deciding singles before prevailing, 3-2, in the finals where they had a twice-to-beat advantage at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

“We overachieved. Who would have thought that we will be here in the finals? For me, the difference here is inexperience,” said NU coach Karl Santamaria.

“The loss is a part of heartbreaks. This is a learning experience for the team,” added Santamaria.

Ernesto Pantua scored the clincher for De La Salle, wearing down NU’s top player and erstwhile unbeaten Leander Lazaro, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, in the deciding singles.

Pantua found Lazaro, who was eventually named Rookie of the Year, losing steam in the third set and pounded on the Bulldog to keep the Green Archers unbeaten in 11 ties since the eliminations this season.

“Walang talo si Lazaro the whole season, it was a big win for Pantua,” said coach Roland Kraut, who steered De La Salle to its seventh men’s tennis title in the league.

“Sinabi ko kay Estoy (Pantua) na patagalin ang laban. He finishes kasi in one or two shots, kasi kapag pinatagal niya ng three or four shots, may laban tayo.”

Season Most Valuable Player Michael Basco won for De La Salle the opening singles against Tim Polero, 6-0, 6-0, but NU was quick to equalize in the first doubles as Michael Madrio and Fritz Verdad defeated Pemrik Alina and Kyle Cordero, 7-6 (3), 6-1.

The finals swung back to De La Salle’s favor with Alberto Villamor beating Al Khady Jainul, 6-4, 6-2, in the second singles, but NU again leveled the count at 2-2 on the second doubles victory of Dheo Talatayod and Wilson Oblea against Ed Amor and Fidel Regis, 6-4, 6-3.

An1mo La Salle!

via ABS-CBN News

The 23-year-old Long, who is graduating from Ateneo de Manila University this March, has expressed his desire to join the PBA Draft, but is prevented by his American blood.

Under current draft rules, Long is ineligible to submit his name to the pool because he lacks any Filipino ancestry.

Long’s argument though is that he has live an extraordinary amount of time in the Philippines. He spent four years in high school at Faith Academy, located in Rizal, Antipolo, before enrolling at Ateneo, studying there and playing five years in the UAAP.

In a manner of thinking, Long has spent nine years establishing his residency.

While the league office has not yet given him permission to join the PBA, a stint in the D-League may be the next step towards getting that.

Under current PBA rules, any Fil-foreign player must have played at least two conferences in the D-League before becoming eligible for the draft.

It is thus possible that Salud will grant Long a special exemption to be classified as a Fil-foreigner following the above guidelines.

Entering college as a deadeye scorer, Long morphed into a shutdown defender over his five years as a Blue Eagle, under the coaching of Norman Black. His contributions helped Ateneo to four straight UAAP titles.

He was also recently named the Model Collegiate Player of the Year by the Philippine Collegiate Champions League.

In addition to basketball, Long also excels at baseball, where he is an outfielder for the Ateneo Blue Batters team that will compete for a UAAP title.

via OMG, GMA News

Photo via Cosmo

The Ateneo de Manila University came in 7th, with a total of 3,070 points scored by 31 teams.

The University of the Philippines, Diliman placed 23rd, with 2,171 points scored by 22 teams.

The University of the Philippines, Manila placed 40th with 1,511 points scored by 15 teams.

De La Salle University Manila was 42nd with 1,485 points scored by 23 teams.

Australia’s Sydney Union (4,589 points, 51 teams) and Monash (4,067 points, 58 teams) came in first and second respectively.

Emeritus member and former Chair of the World Debating Council Colm Flynn maintains the rankings. While they currently include tournaments held in Africa, Asia, Oceania, Austral Asians, Europe, United Kingdom, North America and South America, they wish to expand the number of tournaments and formats in the ranking.

The current ranking includes 500 debating societies, to show an accurate representation of their comparative strength against each other based on their participation in parliamentary debating around the world.

“The totals are calculated by adding the results of all the teams that society fielded in the tournaments we track over the course of the year, right up to the largest event – the World Universities Debating Championships,” the International Debate Education Association said on its website, where the rankings may be viewed.

The last World University Debate Championship (WUDC) was held in Manila, where college debaters from 41 countries converged at De La Salle University, whose debate society hosted the tournament.

Two Philippine teams were among the top 16 teams in the “English as Second Language” (ESL) category of the 2011 WUDC, which is considered to be the “Olympics of Debate.”

via Carmela G. Lapena/KG, GMA News

The announcement followed the approval by Pope Benedict XVI of the canonization of Calungsod, according to the Vatican’s official news website.

The Pope made the announcement through Angelo Cardinal Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, at St. Peter’s Basilica following a ceremony in which 22 bishops from around the world were elevated to the rank of cardinal.

Those to be canonized on October 21 along with Calungsod are Jacques Berthieu, a French martyr and priest of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits); Giovanni Battista Piamarta, an Italian priest and founder of the Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth and of the Congregation of the Humble Sister Servants of the Lord; Maria del Carmen, a Spanish founder of the Conceptionist Missionary Sisters of Teaching; Maria Anna Cope, a German religious of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis in Syracuse; Kateri Tekakwitha, an American laywoman, and Anna Schaffer, a German laywoman.

Calungsod will be the second Filipino to be canonized in the history of the Catholic Church after Pope John Paul II canonized Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila in 1987. Both Calungsod, who hailed from Cebu, and Ruiz were lay persons.

Ruiz, a parish scribe and former altar boy who was born in Binondo, Manila, was martyred in Japan in 1637.

Calungsod was born in 1655 in what was then the Diocese of Cebu which covered the islands of Panay and Mindanao, as well as the Pacific island of Guam.

A lay catechist, he died at 17 in Guam while trying to defend his fellow mission worker, Jesuit priest and now Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores, when natives attacked them on April 2, 1672.

Calungsod was struck by a spear and his skull was split by a machete blow. Their bodies were then tied together and thrown into the sea.

The latest announcement is expected to push preparations for Calungsod’s canonization to full swing in the Archdiocese of Cebu, where the archbishop emeritus, Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, was the lead promoter of the campaign for Calungsod’s canonization.

Since his beatification in 2000 by Pope John Paul II, Cebuanos have been offering prayers through Calungsod.

The Vatican earlier recognized the recovery from a deep coma of a Cebu businesswoman as a miracle obtained through Calungsod’s intercession.

On March 5, 2000, Pope John Paul II beatified Calungsod along with 43 other martyrs in ceremonies held at St. Peter’s Square in Rome. The Vatican officially set April 2 as Calungsod’s feast day.

In his homily during the beatification, John Paul called on the youth to emulate Calungsod.

“From his childhood, Pedro Calungsod declared himself unwaveringly for Christ and responded generously to His call. Young people today can draw encouragement and strength from the example of Pedro, whose love of Jesus inspired him to devote his teenage years to teaching the faith as a lay catechist,” John Paul said.

via Inquirer

Rivalry: Ateneo-La Salle The Musical wasn’t just any musical since I could relate to it on a personal level in many ways. First, the music was written by the father of my best friend in college. Secondly, the musical was about the Ateneo and La Salle rivalry and I’m a both a Blue Eagle (college) and an Archer (high school). Thirdly, our law office did the legal work for the company involved in staging Rivalry. So on many levels, I felt I had to go. And despite my anti-musical theater views, I actually ended up liking it. So here are five reasons why you should watch Rivalry.

1. Great Singing

Let me state an indisputable and self-evident fact: Filipinos are the world’s best singers. Full stop. There is something about the Filipino soul and psyche that makes singing beautifully second nature to many Filipinos. While there are many contrary Filipino examples, as shown by the high death rate involved in singing My Way at karaoke joints, for the most part, Filipinos are naturally gifted singers. And the singers in Rivalry did not disappoint. Particularly, the lead female protagonist whose vocal timbre reminded me of a younger Lea Salonga. If you just want to watch a bunch of good vocalists sing beautiful songs, then Rivalry definitely fulfills that.

2. Noel Trinidad

This might be a generational thing, but I grew up on the variety show Champoy. Trinidad, who was the foil to Subas Herrero, entertained us, from our childhood to our teen years, with his singing and corny jokes. Simply put, he was something of a cultural icon to the so-called martial law babies and to see him onstage, still funny, comedic timing still impeccable, was a treat. I don’t want to spoil the joke, but he does make a reference to a great public school in the Diliman area whose icon is a man asking the heavens where he left his clothes; it’s absolutely hilarious and demonstrates the higher status — to the minds of many great men and women, particularly my spouse — of that educational institution.

3. Nostalgia

Rivalry is set in 1968, two years before my birth but its world and social milieu reminds me of childhood in the ‘70s. Manila, during that time, was a much simpler, less complicated place and the people more genteel. It was a time before Facebook, mobile phones and social networking. One of the things I enjoyed about the play was seeing people having conversations without cell phones. Remember when we used to have real, continuous conversations with one another? When we weren’t constantly texting or being interrupted by phone calls. When we had time to discuss and converse? When friends were real friends — flesh-and-blood people that we spent time with instead of virtual ones? Just going back to this simpler world that seemed more real and more genteel — by which I mean genuinely respectful and not the distasteful gentility of false affection for aristocratic values — was worth the price of admission.

4. Support Local Artists

Again, I’m not a big fan of musicals but I am a big fan of Filipino artistry. If Filipinos are willing to plunk down their hard-earned pesos to watch foreign singers, actors and other artists, some well past the prime of their careers, then why not spend the same amount supporting Filipino theater, musicals, concerts, etc.? Our artists should embody and exemplify the very best of the Filipino soul. And they simply cannot do that and be that without financial support. The stereotype of the starving artist is both a cliché and antithetical to the very growth of the arts. While I’m not against foreign acts coming to the Philippines because I believe that competition is always good and will bring out the best in our local artists, maybe we should have a preference for Filipino performers and performances.

5. Original Pilipino musical

Remember the great OPM days of the ‘80s and ‘90s? When our own Filipino music competed — and often bested — foreign songs and singers? Well, what makes Rivalry special is that it is all original music, based on a uniquely Filipino story, and historically predicated on the Filipino experience. Some might scoff at the play and say it holds interest only for graduates of the Blue school or the Green school. That would be a mistake because the creators of the show have taken pains to make this an inclusive story, meaning both non-Ateneans and non-LaSallians can relate to it. Who can’t identify with issues of love, brotherhood and family? In fact, my wife and our friend who accompanied me, a theater buff, enjoyed the show although they both went to the public school in Diliman.

So even if you aren’t a musical theater kind of guy — or girl — and if you have free time during the weekends, consider watching Rivalry. You can watch NBA and the big Hollywood movies any time. But watching something truly Filipino, born of the creativity and experience of Filipinos, is something that doesn’t come along very often. Actually, I should say that it doesn’t happen often enough. Finally, if even I, the emerging middle-aged, male, musical-theater-hating stereotype, can enjoy it, then I’m pretty sure that you can, too.

via Adel Tamano, PhilStar

With Greg Slaughter assuring he would be back for his final year and reigning Rookie of the Year Kiefer Ravena still manning the point for a few years, the Blue Eagles are once again the favorites in the 75th UAAP season in July — and maybe the next few seasons after that.

But no matter what happens to the Eagles this coming season, Black is going to step down as head coach of Ateneo, the school announced last Friday.

Ateneo President Jose Ramon T. Villarin, SJ, said in a letter to students and alumni that Black’s decision to end a seven-year partnership with Ateneo came because of his desire to return as PBA coach, most likely with Philippine Cup champion Talk ’N Text.

“It is with regret that I inform the community that coach Norman Black has indicated his desire to return to the PBA where he hopes to replicate his successful system,” Villarin said. “Having been at the PBA before, he is in a way coming full circle with this move.”

It has been rumored since last year that Black, who won 10 titles as mentor of San Miguel and Sta. Lucia in the PBA, will likely fill the TNT coaching post should Chot Reyes be tapped to handle the Smart-Gilas Pilipinas program.

The Bulletin tried to contact Black but was unavailable at presstime.

There were talks of Black’s potential departure after the Eagles captured their fourth straight title last October but Villarin said that “coach Norman has agreed to Ateneo’s request that he coach the Blue Eagles for the 2012 season.”

Villarin added that Black, who has a coaching record of 95 wins and 24 defeats since arriving in 2005, will remain with the Ateneo program as consultant for at least the next two seasons once his coaching duties end in October.

A search committee has been formed to find a successor for Black.

The group is composed of chairman Edward Go, Fr. Nemesio Que, SJ, Ricky Vargas, Jack Huang and Joey Campos. Athletic director Ricky Palou will serve as an adviser.

Black, who moonlights as TNT consultant, also guided the Sinag Pilipinas to a gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games last November in Jakarta.

But before dreaming of another PBA title, Black is determined to give Ateneo a fifth straight UAAP championship.

via Manila Bulletin

Photo via Bleacher’s Brew