HERS was probably one of the most awaited debuts in the recent annals of the UAAP women's volleyball tournament. And when finally Shaina Nitura took to the court, finished her outing, and led her team to victory, she had made history, proving the buzz over her vaunted talent was real.
In her debut, Nitura was sensational. She scored 33 points, the highest-ever women's volleyball score ever posted by a rookie. And to make her opening salvo more memorable, she virtually single-handedly willed Adamson to a reverse sweep of an Ateneo squad looking for relevance after years of futile campaign.
The score was 21-25, 20-25, 25-12, 25-15, 15-12.
Nitura had moved to college competition following a glorious juniors career, as she became one of the league's most decorated high school spikers. Observers said she had taken the game as though she was born to be one of its stars.
READ: How playing goggles helped Adamson's Shaina Nitura reset rookie scoring record
But that wasn’t always the case for the bespectacled, 5-foot-9, 20-year-old sensation.
Volleyball as second sport
Nitura told SPIN.ph how she tried volleyball ‘for fun’ in her hometown of Cainta, Rizal when her school was looking for volleyball players during an intrams recruitment campaign. She said she and her family had always played badminton, which she also played in school, and she thought that was the sport she would eventually take seriously.
“Playtime lang ‘yung pagsama ko sa volleyball. Sumama lang ako sa ate ko nu’n kasi wala akong magawa nu’n (hanggang sa) na-enjoy ko rin,” she said.
“Badminton nga ‘yung una kong (sport) sa intrams namin. Tapos ayun, nag-training na rin ako (sa volleyball).
“Nu’ng Grade 8, nag-start na akong maglaro sa mga municipal meet hanggang sa napunta na ako sa Adamson.”
From there, her promise and potential were apparently too much to ignore that she became the object of an intense recruiting war among many teams. In the end, she chose Adamson.
And come college, why she chose to stay home in San Marcelino over other schools with bigger budgets and extended pedigrees is something she would rather not talk about.
According to some insiders, her decision to stay put had many twists and turns.
“No comment po. Medyo complicated po kasi,” Nitura said.
Falcons, I'm not going anywhere else, so Falcons, let's fight
In high school, she won a hat-trick of individual accolades in her final UAAP girls’ volleyball season.
She led the Lady Baby Falcons to the school’s very first UAAP girls’ volleyball crown by dethroning perennial champions NU-Nazareth School. With her as team captain, the white-and-blue swept the tournament.
Fittingly, Nitura was named UAAP girls volleyball MVP, finals MVP, and best outside spiker.
Whether she would be able to bring Adamson to the promised land now in college remains to be seen.
What is important is that the Lady Falcons have found someone to carry the banner, as they battle for supremacy in a very tough and highly-competitive tournament.
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