1. The Philippine women's team earned a landmark win against Vietnam
For the Philippine women's volleyball team, the 19th AVC Asian Senior Women's Volleyball Championship was a golden opportunity to prepare for the Southeast Asian Games. Held in Laguna just weeks before the regional tournament, the competition helped them get in top shape before heading to Kuala Lumpur.
More than this, however, the tournament also gave a massive boost of confidence to the nationals, thanks to their remarkable victory over Vietnam in the second round.
Led by Alyssa Valdez, Jaja Santiago, and libero Dawn Macandili, the Philippines hacked out a 27-25, 26-24, 17-25, 25-23 over a Vietnam squad that regularly medaled in the SEA Games. Macandili was superb, saving plays for the Philippines with her floor defense, while Valdez came up with huge plays in the clutch – including back-to-back aces in the second set.
It proved to be the high point of the Philippines' campaign in the tournament as they finished in 8th place among 14 countries. Macandili earned second Best Libero honors after the event.
2. The UAAP crown stays in Taft
De La Salle University continues to set the bar in UAAP women's volleyball. For the second straight season, the Lady Archers ruled the tournament as they defeated archrival Ateneo de Manila University in a thrilling two-game final.
It was not a smooth march to the title for Ramil de Jesus' squad, however. They lost key players such as Ara Galang and Mika Reyes to graduation. They suffered a truly shocking loss to University of the Philippines in the elimination round. And they lost both of their elimination round games to the Lady Eagles. Arguably, the Lady Archers were the underdogs in the finals.
But behind the solid, determined leadership of Kim Fajardo, the Lady Archers simply outplayed their archrivals in the championship round. Their title-clinching win in Game 2 displayed La Salle's might in full: they went behind two sets to one, but dominated the last two frames for a 19-25, 25-14, 18-25, 25-18, 15-10 victory.
3. Marck Espejo remains casually dominant
One can imagine the frustration of those tasked to defend Ateneo de Manila University star Marck Espejo. In his fourth season in the UAAP, Espejo appears to be at the peak of his powers; virtually every facet of the game seems to come naturally for him.
In Season 79, Espejo was awarded the MVP trophy for the fourth season in a row, while also winning Best Scorer and Best Attacker honors. Espejo also shored up his receiving and digging, and showed improvement in blocking.
Even as he was the runaway winner of the top individual honor, Espejo appeared to be in cruise control throughout the elimination round as Ateneo piled up victory after victory. it was not until the Blue Eagles' finals series against National University that Espejo finally broke into a sweat.
Against the Bulldogs, Espejo served as the difference-maker for Ateneo. Both finals games went the distance, but each time, the Blue Eagles hacked out the win, thanks in large part to their MVP. In their series-clinching Game 2 victory, Espejo contributed 27 points, and came up with the block that iced the victory.
4. Jia Morado and Kim Fajardo, setters par excellence
The debate raged among Philippine volleyball fans throughout the first half of 2017: who was the better setter, Kim Fajardo of La Salle or Jia Morado of Ateneo?
Statistically, Fajardo edged out Morado, and she won Best Setter honors in UAAP Season 79. The veteran playmaker also led the Lady Spikers past Morado's Lady Eagles in the Finals.
Regardless of your preference, however, there was simply no doubt that Fajardo and Morado were the dominant players in Season 79 – despite not playing a scoring position. The two setters – who were also the captains of their respective teams – ran the show for the top two squads in the UAAP and often did so in spectacular fashion.
Yet even as fans painted them as rivals, there is nothing but respect between Fajardo and Morado, both of whom bid their goodbyes to the UAAP after Season 79.
5. An eventful SEA Games stint for the Philippine volleyball teams
The 2017 Southeast Asian Games proved to be an eventful time for the Philippine volleyball teams, particularly for the women's side.
The men's team failed to advance to the semifinals and mustered just one win against Timor Leste. But the women's team made it to the semifinals, where they promptly lost to eventual champions Thailand in three sets.
A setback at the hands of a powerhouse Thailand team was not exactly a surprise, but at this point in the SEA Games, events happening outside of the court began to take the focus away from the team's performance. In particular, the sight of star spiker Alyssa Valdez in tears after the loss – as well as coach Francis Vicente's explanation for her show of emotion – became a hot-button topic among fans.
The women's team eventually finished in fourth place after losing to Vietnam in the battle for bronze, as they failed to recapture the form that led to their upset victory over the Vietnamese in the AVC tournament.
6. San Sebastian blows a thrice-to-beat advantage – again
It almost seemed like a cruel joke when the San Sebastian College Lady Stags swept the elimination round of the NCAA women's volleyball tournament for the second year in a row.
That meant that for the second straight year, they advanced to the finals outright with a thrice-to-beat advantage. For most teams, this would be an ideal situation. But not for San Sebastian.
In NCAA Season 91, the Lady Stags squandered a thrice-to-beat edge in the finals against De La Salle-College of St. Benilde. Remarkably, they managed to do that same feat again in Season 92, this time against Arellano University.
One can make the argument that the Lady Stags' loss in Season 92 was even more painful. In Season 91, they managed to take one game off the Lady Blazers. This year, however, the Lady Chiefs summarily swept them in the finals.
The result was doubly painful for San Sebastian star Grethcel Soltones, who ended her collegiate career without a championship in indoor volleyball.
7. The national team pool creates more questions than answers
No issue perplexed volleyball fans this year more than the initial pools of players for the men's and women's national teams.
When the initial rosters were announced in mid-March, the coaches were immediately questioned regarding the exclusion of some of the best players in the country. Sammy Acaylar did not include reigning UAAP MVP Marck Espejo or setter Ish Polvorosa in his initial roster, although he stressed that both were welcome.
More contentious were the questions surrounding the women's team. Head coach Francis Vicente was eviscerated on social media for his decision to include Roselle Baliton, the setter of his collegiate team, while failing to "hand-pick" established stars like Ateneo's Jia Morado or La Salle's Ara Galang to the initial 25-player pool.
The controversy eventually came to a head in May, during the "Clash of Heroes" event. The fund-raiser was billed as a "final tryout" of sorts for the national team pool, and it worked out that way for the men's team. The women's side was beset with no-shows, however, from Alyssa Valdez to Grethcel Soltones, to Aby Marano and Kim Fajardo.
Thankfully, the issues that hounded the teams did not prevent them from marching to the Southeast Asian Games later in the year.
8. Battle lines are drawn over imports' ITCs
2017 was the year that volleyball fans learned what an international transfer certificate (ITC) was. Officials of the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) waged verbal battles with officials of the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. (LVPI) over the issue for months.
Essentially, the PVL was unable to secure ITCs for their imports early this year, forcing them to play with all-Filipino line-ups during their Reinforced Conference. PVL officials laid the blame on the feet of the LVPI, as the organization was supposed to process the documents on their behalf.
Imports were eventually able to make their debut, but not before players like Dzi Gervacio and Charo Soriano called out Philippine Superliga (PSL) president Tats Suzara on Twitter and accused him of blocking the ITCs. Suzara would clap back, denying that he prevented the release of the ITCs and blaming the PVL for their own woes.
