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Ateneo Lady Eagles feel offseason drama made them stronger

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Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/sports/01/30/admu.jpg"/><figcaption>The Ateneo Lady Eagles. Arvin Lim, <a href="https://sports.abs-cbn.com/uaap/volleyball/photos">ABS-CBN Sports</a></figcaption></figure></div>MANILA, Philippines – Following an eventful offseason where they very nearly lost their coach, the Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles are determined to move forward and focus on the upcoming UAAP Season 80 women&#x27;s volleyball tournament.The team&#x27;s growing discontent with Bundit over various issues – including playing time and his difficult training sessions – led to the Thai coach being let go sometime in October. It took an intervention by Ateneo president Fr. Jett Villarin, SJ, to get Bundit to stay for Season 80.The controversy compounded what was already a difficult period for the Ateneo women&#x27;s volleyball program. With the loss of setter Jia Morado and utility spiker Michelle Morente, the Lady Eagles were in a rebuilding period -- and losing their coach would have been an even more brutal blow to the team.Instead, Bundit stayed, the Lady Eagles conducted their offseason training in Thailand as has been their custom for the past half-decade, and the crowd favorites are entering the new UAAP season with optimism.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://sports.abs-cbn.com/ncaa/news/2018/02/01/lady-chiefs-clinch-playoff-bonus-downing-lady-stags-37039">READ: Lady Chiefs clinch playoff bonus after downing Lady Stags</a></li></ul>&quot;After everything that happened, it made us stronger naman,&quot; newly minted Ateneo captain Maddie Madayag said, when asked how the offseason drama affected the team.&quot;Nalagpasan na namin &#x27;yung phase na &#x27;yun,&quot; she also stressd. &quot;Every team has it problems. Siguro, it differs na lang on how people respond.&quot;&quot;We faced our problems talaga. It made us stronger as a team.&quot;Not only is the team strong, their bond with each other is now deeper. This, according to co-captain Kat Tolentino.&quot;I think the team has become super close with everything that&#x27;s happened,&quot; said Tolentino. &quot;All the obstacles and hardships that we went through has only made us stronger.&quot;&quot;It&#x27;s very cliché to say that,&quot; she acknowledged, &quot;but I really believe it.&quot;Like Madayag, Tolentino is quick to point out that all teams go through their share of problems, though Ateneo&#x27;s controversial offseason was magnified because of the squad&#x27;s high profile and big fan base. She further explained that the controversy was something the team dealt with for &quot;whatever amount of weeks,&quot; but they have worked their way through it.Another Ateneo veteran, Bea de Leon, said that by all accounts, the Lady Eagles &quot;handled the situation very well.&quot;&quot;The measure of a good team is how you deal with things when they don&#x27;t go your way. I think, as a team, we were able to do that. The one thing that I&#x27;m really proud of about is, when you look at all these individuals, they&#x27;re very good-hearted people,&quot; said De Leon. &quot;With that comes very good character that allowed us to overcome things like sama ng loob and everything else that passed that tried to bring us down,&quot; she added.&quot;I think we handled the situation very well. I think we&#x27;re a lot stronger in terms of our morals and character.&quot;More than the difficult offseason that they endured, the Lady Eagles would much rather focus on their build-up for Season 80. They lost a couple of key pieces in Morado and Morente, who were the team&#x27;s unquestioned leaders in Season 79. They did not make much of a splash in the Premier Volleyball League Collegiate Conference, either.But over the past couple of months, they have improved by leaps and bounds, said Tolentino.&quot;From the beginning, since PVL where we were one of the bottom seeds, we&#x27;ve improved so much. We just had our Thailand training and we did really well,&quot; Tolentino revealed.&quot;We&#x27;re not at the peak yet. But, considering our trainings from July to now, there&#x27;s definitely been an improvement,&quot; she added.Having put their issues with Bundit behind them, the Lady Eagles are prepared to follow their coach to battle in Season 80 and again live up to the mantra that he introduced in Season 76.&quot;The team&#x27;s just going to play its game – the usually happy, heart strong (game),&quot; vowed Madayag. &quot;Just expect that we&#x27;ll give our best in every game. No matter what happens, we know that we did our best.&quot;(For more sports coverage, visit the <a href="http://sports.abs-cbn.com/">ABS-CBN Sports website.</a>)

Following an eventful offseason wherein they very nearly lost their coach, the Ateneo Lady Eagles are determined to move forward and focus on the upcoming UAAP Season 80 women's volleyball tournament.

Following an eventful offseason wherein they very nearly lost their coach, the Ateneo Lady Eagles are determined to move forward and focus on the upcoming UAAP Season 80 women's volleyball tournament.

Ateneo Lady Eagles feel offseason drama made them stronger

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Ateneo Lady Eagles feel offseason drama made them stronger

Camille B. Naredo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Feb 01, 2018 06:33 PM PHT

|

Updated Feb 01, 2018 09:21 PM PHT

Read More:

UAAP

volleyball

Ateneo Lady Eagles

Tai Bundit

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