MANILA, Philippines – The Ateneo Blue Eagles are off to a tragic start in the UAAP Season 87 women’s volleyball tournament as hitter Zel Tsunashima suffered a horrific leg injury in their very first game, an eventual five-set reverse sweep loss to Shaina Nitura-powered Adamson last Sunday, February 16.
On Wednesday, February 19, head coach Sergio Veloso was the bearer of even more bad news for the community as not only is Tsunashima expected to miss the rest of the season with a broken left tibia and fibula, but that they also lost winger JLo delos Santos to a left ACL tear in practice.
“[Zel] broke them, the tibia and fibula, but now, she’s okay. She started physiotherapy, but unfortunately for this situation, she cannot play anymore this season,” said Veloso, also the Alas Pilipinas men’s volleyball coach.
“JLo I think tomorrow or after tomorrow, she will go to surgery too, because when she landed, she landed over one leg like Geezel. Geezel landed over her left when she touched the other foot and lost balance and broke.”
Following a soul-crushing series of losses amid their ranks, Veloso made it a point to do as any coach would and uplift the young Eagles ahead of a significantly bleaker outlook with at least 13 games left in the season.
“These are our words, strong heart, strong mind. I told the players, sometimes you don’t know what God proposes. But you know it’s the time to show that you have a strong heart and strong mind,” he continued.
“It’s a part of the sport. You play a high-level sport, sometimes you have a kind of accident. These situations are totally accidents, but the girls are strong and the program in physical conditioning [is better] and they can recover faster. This is the purpose of our plan. You need to prepare and prevent some situations. But when these situations happen, you need to return faster.”
As of publishing time, the Blue Eagles are scaling the first of many steep mountains as they stage a huge upset bid against a fully-healthy defending champion NU at the FilOil EcoOil Centre. – Rappler.com