AFTER years of futility, the University of the Visayas (UV) Spiking Lancers are finally back in relevance and they will look to sustain their steady rise in this year’s Cebu Schools Athletics Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) volleyball tournament.
After playing mediocre volleyball for years, UV emerged from the pit last year by finishing third in the league’s indoor competition, while dethroning the 2015 beach volley champions University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) to win its first Cesafi men’s beach volleyball crown since 2013.
UV, however, is facing a daunting task this season after two key players, team captain Joseph Noval and Ian Pacinio, graduated last semester.
The Spiking Lancers bolstered their lineup by acquiring Lester Arioja, Lendel Torrecampo, Raphy Abanto and Edilberto Logrosa, while making setter Esmundo Gabito as their new team captain.
Even without Nova, Spiking Lancers assistant coach Jade Becaldo remains optimistic that he can develop his ward’s killer instinct.
“My goal is to make to the finals. Unfortunately, the mindset of the players is different. I’m trying to push them and change their mindset towards the game because for me, that’s how you win games by believing you can win no matter what happens,” said the soft-spoken Becaldo.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
