Single game scoring sensations in UAAP women’s volleyball (Final Four era)

Mark Escarlote 

 

 Here are the players who scored 30 or more points in a single game in the UAAP women's volleyball tournament in the past two decades.

Scorers are aplenty in UAAP women’s volleyball.

All teams have players who can bring in the numbers on the offensive end.

Powerful wingers can pound missile after missile while middles can wreak havoc at the net either on quick attacks or kill blocks. Setters, if lucky, can put in points on top of their playmaking.

But there are those who showed their great offensive prowess and carved their names in the record books.     

Here are the players who scored 30 or more points in a single game in the UAAP women's volleyball tournament in during the past two decades.

ANGELA BENTING, ADAMSON UNIVERSITY

She may not be the tallest of players on the Adamson University Lady Falcons side but Angela Benting can soar and score at any given time.

Eleven years ago, Benting displayed her best scoring performance for the Lady Falcons in an epic match against an equally dangerous University of Sto. Tomas side.

In UAAP Season 71, the Benting-led Lady Falcons faced the Tigresses in an all-important match at the close of the elimination round.

The Lady Falcons needed a win to secure the no. 3 spot in the Final Four.

Adamson with Benting at the helm drew first blood.

But the Tigresses rallied in the succeeding sets just as Benting was then pouring on the points for Adamson.

The Lady Falcon eventually ended up with then a league-best 33 points, but all of Benting's efforts went down the drain as the Tigresses walked away with a 22-25, 25-16, 27-25, 25-23 win.

While Benting was doing her thing for Adamson, Aiza Maizo was working on hers for the Tigresses as the lefty unleashed 30 points in an exciting scoring showdown that Valentine’s Day in 2009 at The Arena in San Juan.   

It was a heartbreaking loss for the Lady Falcons as they closed the elims tied with UST at 9-5 slate and were dragged to a playoff for Final Four place. The Tigresses eventually won the rematch for no. 3 spot.

Unfortunately, neither team advanced to the Finals as then Rachel Anne Daquis-led defending champion Far Eastern University and Manilla Santos-bannered De La Salle University, who was coming off a scandalous forfeiture of games the year before, figured in the battle for the crown.

   

AIZA MAIZO, UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS

Aiza Maizo eventually reset her UAAP personal-best two seasons later after a memorable showing against Adamson University by opening Season 73 with a bang.

Pitted against Ateneo de Manila University’s Fab Five, Maizo uncorked a 32-point explosion to lead UST to victory in a five-set thriller, 25-13, 18-25, 19-25, 26-24, 15-13, on No. 27, 2010.

Maizo shouldered the scoring chores for the then reigning champions Tigresses as she fired 29 off 83 attacks with three kill blocks in the match that lasted for two hours and 20 minutes. Maizo started in all sets.

The Queen Tigress, whose closest back-up in points was Maru Banaticla with 12 markers, also played an all-around game with 11 digs and seven excellent receptions.  

However, UST eventually lost its hold of the throne that season when DLSU reclaimed the title.

   

ALYSSA VALDEZ, ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY    

Angela Benting’s four-year scoring record was broken by a then-sophomore Alyssa Valdez of Ateneo.

The 1,784-strong crowd inside the The Arena in San Juan witnessed history unfold as Valdez exploded for 35 points in match against Adamson U.

Out of her 35 points, Valdez hammered down 31 off attacks in 80 attempts.

She added three kill blocks of the Lady Eagles’ 10 denials and landed an ace. Valdez also had six digs.

But her feat wasn’t enough to save Ateneo as the Lady Falcons walked away with a five-set 22-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-16, 10-15, in their Season 75 start of second round eliminations meeting last January 20, 2013.

However, Valdez’s scoring record would remain as the women’s benchmark in production to this day.

The Queen Eagle would again breach the 30-point mark as she finished a point shy of the duplicating her personal and UAAP record in a five-set win over archrival DLSU in Season 78 Finals Game 2 that forced a series decider.

The then graduating Valdez, with their three-peat bid at stake, poured 34 points to breathe new life to Ateneo, which survived 18-25, 26-28, 25-17, 25-16, 15-11, in a grueling two-hour, eight-minute encounter witnessed by 20,126 people inside the MOA Arena on April 27, 2016.     

Valdez pounded 32 attack points off 76 attempts in a heroic stand for the Lady Eagles, who unfortunately surrendered the crown in Game 3.

Valdez would eventually break her career-high with 39 points in an 18-25, 27-25, 21-25, 25-21, 15-9 win over the Laoag Power Smashers while playing for Bureau of Customs in the defunct V-League on Oct. 5, 2016.

SISI RONDINA, UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS

Sisi Rondina never got the chance to display her full potential in her first year with UST, taking a back seat in indoor volleyball behind another freshman in EJ Laure in Season 77.

She finally got her chance to shine under then new head coach Kungfu Reyes in Season 78 as a starter for the Tigresses.

Rondina reintroduced herself with an inspired performance as she fired 30 points in UST’s season-opener on Febuary 3, 2016.

The Cebu pride displayed crisp attacking with 25 kills off 55 attempts and added three aces and a pair of kill blocks.

But it wasn’t enough as UST bowed to Adamson U, 22-25, 21-25, 25-20, 30-28, 14-16, and came two points short of tying Aiza Maizo’s team record in points.

Lady Falcon Jema Galanza was two points shy of reaching the 30-point mark.

Three years after her 30-point game, Rondina surpassed her career-best and became the Tigresses’ top scorer in a single game when she pumped in a league-best-tying 35 points in a five-set game against Ateneo on March 20, 2019.

Rondina pounded away as she scattered 30 kills in 102 tries and had three kill blocks and a pair of aces in a sorry 25-19, 25-22, 27-25, 25-22, 15-11, defeat.

While Rondina equaled Valdez’s scoring record, Lady Eagle Maddie Madayag wrote a new standard in kill blocks with 11 erasing the nine denials established by DLSU’s Celine Hernandez in 2008.

TOTS CARLOS, UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

Power-hitter Tots Carlos tied Aiza Maizo’s scoring feat when the University of the Philippines star dropped 32 points against the Sisi Rondina-led Tigresses.

With the then Lady Maroons struggling to climb the ladder in the first round of Season 80 and limping from a four-game slide, Carlos took matters into her own hands.

The then third year player blasted 27 attack points off 64 tries and added three kill blocks and landed two aces in UP’s 31-33, 25-23, 25-16, 25-12, win over UST on February 28, 2018.

The win stopped the Lady Maroons’ bleeding but UP for the second straight year eventually bowed out of the race for a Final Four slot.

However, Carlos’ career-high production put her on top of UP’s single-game scoring list.

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