ONE of the most storied rivalries in Philippine sports, Ateneo versus La Salle, had six fabled chapters in the grandest stage of college competition, with their final salvo to date held six years ago today on May 6, 2017 at the Araneta Coliseum.
Also on that day, the Philippine volleyball community witnessed two of the country's elite setters, Jia Morado and Kim Fajardo, bid farewell to the UAAP.
Ateneo Blue Eagles vs. De La Salle Lady Spikers through the years
From Season 74 in 2012 to Season 79 in 2017, the Ateneo Blue Eagles and De La Salle Lady Spikers locked horns in six consecutive UAAP women's volleyball finals series.
Their championship head-to-head within this period leaned ever so slightly in favor of the Lady Spikers by four wins to two.
Ateneo's back-to-back titles led by Alyssa Valdez and Co. dealt stunning blows to a formidable La Salle dynasty — from upending the Lady Spikers' thrice-to-beat bonus in Season 76 to completing a two-game Finals sweep in Season 77.
However, their last two Finals meetings in this six-year period left much more of a stinging aftertaste for the Blue Eagles.
Jubilation for KAF, heartbreak for Jia
The Lady Spikers played spoiler to the swan songs of Alyssa Valdez (Season 78) and Jia Morado (Season 79) in what would be their last championship face-off to date.
A 12-2 (win-loss) slate in Season 79 saw the Katipunan side clinch first place at the end of the elimination round, including a two-game prelims sweep over the Taft towers.
With twice-to-beat bonuses at hand, the two rivals quickly dispatched their Final Four foes as Ateneo knocked FEU out while La Salle sent UST crashing.
In Game One of the Finals, the Taft squad ran past the top seeds in four tight sets, 21-25, 29-27, 25-22, 25-20, to push Ateneo on the brink of losing their title reclamation bid.
This perfectly set the stage for an instant classic in Game Two, which did not disappoint as a five-set thriller left a 20-860-strong crowd at the Big Dome in awe.
READ: Sweet repeat for La Salle as Lady Spikers sweep rival Lady Eagles to claim Season 79 crown
Morado left her heart and soul on the court as the then-graduating captain orchestrated a staggering 53 excellent sets out of Ateneo's 55 in the do-or-die game.
But in the end, La Salle stood firm in the face of adversity with a heart-pounding 19-25, 25-14, 18-25, 25-18, 15-10 victory as Ramil de Jesus and Co. became the third UAAP women's volleyball side to reach ten league titles after FEU and UST.
The title-clinching win also enabled season MVP Majoy Baron, finals MVP Des Cheng, and the rest of the Lady Spikers to give three-time best setter and departing skipper Kim Fajardo a golden sendoff.
Legacies live on
In the succeeding seasons, one of either Ateneo or La Salle managed to win the league title albeit against different foes.
Barring the two discontinued seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Seasons 82 and 83), the Lady Spikers swept FEU in the Season 80 title series — the first non-rivalry final in seven years.
The Blue Eagles, meanwhile, relived their glory days in Season 81 after prevailing in the title-deciding Game Three tiebreak against UST for their third championship.
But in the first post-pandemic season, National University emerged as a serial title protagonist after completing a rare 16-game sweep in Season 84 to become the first new champion beside Ateneo and La Salle in ten seasons.
Only time will tell if a seventh chapter is to be written in the decades-old rivalry between the two titan schools.
But needless to say, their longstanding legacies in Philippine volleyball will surely live on in the years to come.
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