Dawn Macandili feels Lasallian pride when playing beside younger Lady Spikers in Alas Pilipinas
In the 14-woman pool of Alas Pilipinas for the AVC Challenge Cup, five players came from one of the top collegiate volleyball programs in the country: De La Salle University.
The Lady Spikers have seen plenty of success, winning 12 titles, all of them coming at the turn of the millennium and under the tutelage of one of the best volleyball mentors in Ramil de Jesus.
In the AVC Challenge Cup, Dawn Macandili, Fifi Sharma, Angel Canino, Thea Gagate, and Julia Coronel carry the banner for the green-and-white.
For Macandili, who played her last collegiate season in UAAP Season 80, playing with the younger Lasallians feels like going back to a familiar territory.
“I can still feel ‘yung Lasallian pride when they play, and ‘yung characteristic nila and attitude na palaban,” Macandili said.
[I can still feel Lasallian pride when they play, and their characteristic and attitude where they have a lot of fight in them.]
Apart from her bond with fellow La Salle players, Macandili said that she is happy with the way younger players approach the game.
“Sobrang special every batch pero ito, feeling ko sobrang sarap lang maglaro ng volleyball kasi natutuwa ako sa mga bata kasi sobrang mature nila maglaro and sobrang napapadali lang ang trabaho namin,” she added.
[Every batch is so special but it feels really good to play volleyball this time because the younger players play so mature and they make our jobs so easy.]
Alas Pilipinas will play Kazakhstan in the semifinals of the tournament on Tuesday.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News