Valdez tops charts in UAAP volleyball

MANILA, Philippines - Dishing out her usual offensive form for Ateneo, Alyssa Valdez emerged as the top scorer and server after the initial run in the UAAP Season 76 women’s volleyball tourney.

Valdez, last year’s Best Scorer awardee, punched in 77 points built around 60 spikes, five blocks and 12 service aces to lead the way in scoring entering the league’s holiday break.

National U’s Dindin Santiago (66), Adamson’s Shiela Pineda (59), last season’s co-MVP Ara Galang (51) and Mika Reyes (47) of four-peat-seeking La Salle trailed the Ateneo star in points production.

Valdez also showed the way in service, firing 12 aces for an average of  one per set through the Lady Eagles’ first four outings.

Towering Jaja Santiago of National U paced the race for Best Spiker, posting 36 spikes out of 73 attempts for a 49.32 percent clip. Sister Dindin followed closely behind with a 48.15 percent accuracy (52 spikes in 100 attempts).

La Salle stars Mika Reyes and Season 75 co-MVP Abigail Marano lorded it over in the block category, each churning out 10 kill blocks for a 0.83 average per set. Two other DLSU Lady Spikers entered the top 10 – Kim Fajardo and Galang (eight kill blocks apiece) –  underscoring the team’s fearsome defense at the net.

Fajardo set the pace in setting, churning 91 running sets against eight faults, 180 still sets off 279 total attempts for an average of 7.58 per set.

Dennise Lazaro of Ateneo zoomed to the top in the chase for both Best Digger (42 digs, 3.50 average per set) and Best Receiver (38 excellent receives, 37.63 efficiency rate) plums.

Powerhouse La Salle, which swept its first four matches without dropping a single set, topped the field in all but two of the six aspects in the stats sheet.

The Lady Spikers were No. 1 in spike (156 spikes from 420 total attempts, 37.14 success rate), blocks (45 kill blocks, 3.75 average per set), set (8 per set), and reception (26.92 percent). They finished second in service (26 aces, 2.17 per set) behind Ateneo (31 aces, 2.58 per set) but only seventh in dig (76 digs, 6.33 average), a department topped by Adamson (146 digs, 10.43 average).

Over in the men’s division, Season 75 co-MVP Mark Gil Alfafara of Santo Tomas outscored everyone with 83 points off 67 kills, nine blocks and seven aces.

Vincent Raphael Mangalubnan of unbeaten National U Bulldogs (4-0) paced the hunt for Best Server (seven aces, 0.58 average per set) and Best Setter (7.08 per set).

Bulldog Jan Berlin Paglinawan was ahead in spike (42 spikes of 82 attempts, 51.22 percent) while Julius Evan Raymundo of University of the Philippines got top view in blocks (17 blocks, 1.13 per set), John Paul Pareja of Ateneo took control in dig (2.54 average) and Kris Roy Guzman of UST led the receivers (36.28 percent).