UNIVERSITY of the East mainstay Khy Cepada isn’t holding any grudges towards her former teammates and coaches who left the Lady Warriors during the offseason.
“Wala naman po kasing hard feelings kasi we know the real reason behind it,” the UE spiker said.
READ: Lady Warriors eager to move on from breakup with Dongallo
Ten UE players led by the team’s Season 86 top scorer-turned-University of the Philippines ace Casiey Dongallo and setter Kizzie Madriaga left the red-and-white last month.
Most of Recto’s erstwhile young core of rising stars followed their longtime California Academy (CAL) mentor Obet Vital to Diliman, leaving the Lady Warriors with just five holdovers from last season.
Cepada, being part of that quintet, admitted how the entire transfer saga caught her by surprise, as she once thought they would remain intact to build on their 2024 resurgence come UAAP Season 87.
“It’s a hard thing po kasi I thought na ‘yun na po ‘yung lineup namin, na du’n kami mags-stick sa lineup na ‘yun,” said Cepada.
“Not everything is negative naman po sa nangyari. We take the positives at ginagawa na lang po naming motivation kaysa distraction.”
She even described it as a ‘heartbreaking’ development that they shouldn’t dwell on any further with a new UAAP season already on the horizon.
“It’s sad and heartbreaking kasi nangyari ‘yun. ‘Di naman po kami dapat magmukmok lang at maging down lang talaga kasi I still have my peers po at family para mag-support po sa’kin at sa’min,” Cepada added.
The silver lining in it all is that there will be five fresh faces to give new life to a shaken-up UE squad set to field just 10 out of a maximum 14-player roster allocation for Season 87.
‘Di naman po kami iniwan ni Doc Obet na walang-wala po. We still have the pieces to show what we are capable of.”
Who is Allan Mendoza?
One thing’s known about UE’s under-the-radar interim head coach Allan Mendoza.
He was Vital’s longtime deputy not only in UE, but from way back in their early beginnings in CAL.
By no means did Mendoza feel ostracized by Vital’s decision not to bring him onboard to the Fighting Maroons. He took it as a challenge given that the former coaching duo share the same belief that the time has come for the apprentice to be a master in his own right.
“Doc Obet trained me for how many years […] to become a positive coach din naman. I’ve been the assistant of Doc Obet in California Academy and naging head coach din ako. Sabi niya, it’s time for me to grow naman and I’ll take that challenge din naman,” said Mendoza.
“Nakaka-proud kasi siyempre dati, nasa sidelines niya 'ko, tapos ngayon magkalaban na kami. Sabi naman niya, masaya siya at masaya rin ako na siya ‘yung una kong makakalaban sa (head coaching) debut ko sa UAAP.”
So far, taking on UE’s top coaching post hasn’t been too drastic of a change for Mendoza, as familiarity has certainly bred a smoother transition period for him amid the Lady Warriors’ ongoing rebuild.
‘Yung adjustments naman, hindi ganun kahirap kasi ‘yung mga bata, kasama ko naman before. ‘Yung naging adjustment ko lang is ‘yung role ng leadership kasi talagang every training, lahat ng nandito is nasa’kin na,” he said.
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