Jaja Santiago finally completed her journey to volleyball superstardom as she led the Chery Tiggo Crossovers to an unprecedented championship victory over the vaunted Creamline Cool Smashers in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference.
“This is a new journey for me and I am so happy to have finally showed the talent given to me by God,” said Santiago, whose sweep of the Conference and Finals MVP honors hammered home her status as one of the very best women volleyball stars the country has to offer.
Clutching the country’s first pro volley trophy with her equally gritty Crossovers indeed capped an up-and-down season for the 25-year-old Tanza, Cavite native, who led the Lady Bulldogs to back-to-back championships in the Shakey’s V-League Collegiate Conference and steered the Foton Tornadoes to the Superliga crowns, also in back-to-back fashion, while bagging a number of individual honors.
A two-time SEA Games veteran, Santiago also became the first Filipino volley player to win a title overseas, helping launch the Saitama Ageo Medics past the NEC Red Rockets to the Japan V League V Cup crown last March.
As a matter of fact, the team tried to convince her to change her citizenship through naturalization but she politely declined and maintained that she still prides herself in being a Filipino and turned down an invite to play for a club in Taiwan to spearhead Chery Tiggo’s campaign in the country’s first pro volley league at the PCV Socio Civic and Cultural Center in Bacarra, Ilocos Norte.
With the Cool Smashers expectedly emerging as the top seed, with their lone loss inflicted by the Crossovers themselves, the two teams set up a dream finale between two teams of different strengths and talents.
Creamline, which won this conference in 2019, took Game One of the best-of-three finals, blowing a 2-0 set lead but dominating Chery Tiggo in the decider, 25-15, 25-21, 18-25, 19-25, 15-7. But the Crossovers came away with an imposing 25-18, 17-25, 25-16, 25-21 triumph that sent the match to a deciding third game.
In a virtual reprise of the first match, Creamline swept the first two sets but Chery Tiggo proved it never ran out of gas, power and hope as the Crossovers rewrote the ending (23-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-23, 15-8) in a fashion they could only serve out against a team that had looked so comfortable, so confident when pushed to the limit.
“I was kind of at a loss in the first and second sets but she (Dindin) stepped up for the team,” said Santiago. “Pagdating sa dulo, kinakapitan ko na siya at yung teammates ko. I told them: ‘Guys, sa atin na ‘to.’”
While Santiago and the rest couldn’t seem to get going in the face of the Cool Smashers’ sustained attack, Manabat single-handedly brought the Crossovers back in the third frame. Inspired by her never-say-die attitude, Santiago and the rest regrouped and put their act together in the next two, particularly in the decider, which they dominated in an intriguing twist of fate.
“Sabi nya (Dindin), ‘Ja, ituloy mo lang.’ “It’s really a proud moment playing alongside your sister who would push you to play hard and won’t ever let you down,” said Santiago, who capped her performance with four blocks on top of 22 attacks, of her sibling, who also suited up for UST before moving to National U.
Manabat exploded for 32 points but more than her output, it was her big fighting heart and unflinching resolve that rubbed off on the rest of the Crossovers.
“This is our last game, do-or-die, so for me, my mindset was to give all that I’ve got,” said Manabat.
“Alam namin na hindi lahat talaga ibinibigay ng madali, lahat yun pinaghihirapan, so nung nanalo kami (sa third set), inisip naming para sa amin ‘to...walang susuko at naging positibo lahat kami sa mga bagay-bagay,” added Manabat.
The organizing Sports Vision is looking at an October playdate for its next conference. (JNP)