THROUGH it all, coach Karl Dimaculangan just feels blessed being the one tasked to handle this very special National University team.
"Di ko rin in-expect to handle itong National University," he said after steering the Lady Bulldogs to the UAAP Season 84 women's volleyball crown in his first season at the helm.
See Perfection attainable as NU Lady Bulldogs win first UAAP title in 65 years
Coming from a University of the East program where he only amassed a measly 3-13 win-loss record through two seasons, the last of which being the truncated UAAP Season 82, the call from NU was simply unexpected for Dimaculangan.
"UE lang naman ako and before noon, parang alam ko na mas maraming veteran coaches na pwede mag-handle sa kanila. Pero they chose na ako yung mag-handle," he said, assuming the post back in January 2021.
Almost a year and a half later and here Dimaculangan is, on top of the league as he guided the Lady Bulldogs to their first women's volleyball crown in 65 years.
"Parang destiny siguro," he said in jest.
National University ends a long title drought.
But it doesn't mean that Dimaculangan doesn't deserve all the flowers.
A former UAAP MVP with University of Santo Tomas and a four-time UAAP champion in his own right, Dimaculangan was the last piece of the puzzle for the talented Lady Bulldogs squad, making the right adjustments and the timely tweaks that allowed this crew to sweep all of their 16 matches in this campaign.
"Noong nag-start ako, iniisip ko kung paano yung gagawin kasi yung talent nila, iba eh," he said. "So doon ako nag-push sa kung ano yung pwede pang idagdag. Medyo binago namin yung sistema at medyo binilisan namin kasi yung IQ nila mataas talaga eh. Iba yung level of play din nila, so kailangan kong mag-aral kung ano pa yung pwedeng idagdag sa skills nila."
Mere talent can only get you so far, and as excellent as these rookie batch featuring Season MVP Bella Belen, Best Opposite Spiker Alyssa Solomon, Best Setter Lams Lamina, and Second Best Middle Blocker Sheena Toring are, they still had to buy into the system Dimaculangan put in place.
Fortunately for him, the girls were ready to embrace him as a whole and now, they can enjoy the fruits of their labor.
"Hindi ko naman in-expect talaga, but yun pala sila ang confident talaga," said Dimaculangan. "Kaya yung journey talaga going dito sa championship na ito is really an emotional one for me." With reports from Jillian Torre
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