Teary-eyed Alyssa Valdez bids farewell to UAAP career

Alyssa Valdez closed the curtains on her UAAP career with tears in her eyes, a bittersweet smile, and a silver medal hanging around her neck.

The most dominant spiker in women's collegiate volleyball, perhaps of all-time, will go out as a runner-up in her final season after the Ateneo Lady Eagles bowed to De La Salle Lady Spikers in four sets on Saturday.

In the sudden death Game Three, Valdez once again carried her team with 31 points in one last monster performance for the two-time champions.

She opened the game with eight points in the first set courtesy of her booming hits, but Phenom as she was, she slowly petered out as the game dragged on visibly fatigued.

In the fourth set, she committed a couple of attack errors as the pressure of almost single-handedly lifting her team started to weigh down upon her.

In the end, the team with the three-time Most Valuable Player was not able to hold a candle against a squad bonded by past defeats and Valdez herself admits it.

The first thing she does when she entered the media room for a final post-game press conference is to congratulate their long-time archrivals, the La Salle Lady Spikers.

"They really played well today, they really played as a team. They're really strong," she said.

The Lady Eagles remained as the favorites to win the crown with Valdez still an intimidating force, but they understood they were the underdogs under the surface.

"I guess our team naman is just so thankful to be here, to be in the finals, because we really didn't expect this na aabot kami dito," Valdez said.

"We couldn't ask for more. We played our best, we gave our best," she added.

Valdez alone outscored the rest of her teammates combined with everyone else chipping in for 28 points, but until the very end, she held the fort for Ateneo with no regrets.

"I love all my teammates, everyone!" she said. — APG, GMA News