MANILA, Philippines — In this particular aspect of volleyball, Jaja Santiago's towering height of 6-foot-5 hinders rather than helps her.

For the past two games, National University (NU) head coach Roger Gorayeb has not taken Santiago out whenever she rotates to the backrow, as is usually the case for middle blockers.

Gorayeb's trust in his liberos have frayed considerably, and he is willingly gambling on Santiago — and his other middle blocker, Risa Sato — in the backline rather than send in players who are underperforming.

The risk has paid off, for the most part.

Against the Ateneo Lady Eagles on Wednesday, Santiago had seven excellent digs and managed to avoid being targeted on serves by sticking to zone 1, where she could be walled off by her teammates. It also did wonders for NU's offense, as Santiago was unstoppable when attacking from the backrow.

Santiago finished the game with 25 points, including eight kill blocks, in NU's 17-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-21, 15-13 win. It was a crucial victory for the Lady Bulldogs, as they now hold sole possession of third place with a 7-4 win-loss record in the UAAP Season 79 tournament.

According to Gorayeb, NU did its homework so it would not need its liberos in the game. Santiago, meanwhile, says she is "up for the challenge" of playing in the backline, even as she admits it does not come naturally to her.

"Mahirap, kasi hindi naman talaga ako rume-receive at dume-depensa, 'di ba?" she said. "At saka matangkad pa ako, so mahirap bumaba para sa akin."

"Pero ayun nga," she added. "Kailangan mo lang kasi mahalin ang ginagawa mo, para makuha. So ganoon ang ginawa ko."

[It's difficult, because I don't really receive or defend. Moreover, I'm tall, so it's difficult to bend down to receive. But that's how it is. You just need to love what you're doing in order to become good at it. That's what I did.]

It helped Santiago that while playing for Foton in the Philippine Superliga (PSL) during the summer, she was lined up as a utility spiker and thus also needed to play in the backline. The experience prepared her for this new challenge with NU.

"In-accept ko na sa sarili ko na kailangan ko dumepensa, kailangan ko maging all-around, at kailangan ko matutong dumepensa at rumeceive," Santiago said.

"Hindi ko kailangan i-pressure 'yung mga teammates ko na, 'Sige, kayo ang mag-receive, kayo ang mag-receive.' Kailangan ko rin sila tulungan," she added.

[I accepted that I need to defend, I need to be an all-around player. I can't put all the pressure on my teammates and just let them receive. I need to help them.]

The whole experiment of playing without a libero has been a fruitful one for the Lady Bulldogs, says Santiago.

"Wala kaming libero kanina, at na-challenge din kami ni coach na kailangan naming mag-receive, kailangan niyo maka-depensa. Wala kayong libero," she said. "Nakita namin na hindi namin kailangan mag-hanap ng wala."

"Kailangan namin magtulong-tulong," Santiago stressed. "Kailangan magkaroon ng teamwork para umangat ang laro namin."

[We played without a libero, and coach challenged us to receive, to defend. We found out that we already had what we were looking for. We just need to help each other. We need to work as a team to elevate our game.]

It remains to be seen if NU will again play without liberos when they return to action on Sunday against University of the Philippines.

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