Santos shines against UE, adds to La Salle's wing depth

MANILA, Philippines — The De La Salle Lady Spikers flexed their wing depth in a 25-22, 25-13, 25-23 win over the UE Lady Warriors in the UAAP Season 87 women's volleyball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Saturday. Despite a tough challenge by UE especially in the third set, coach Ramil de Jesus decided to field her third stringer outside hitter Jillian Santos, starting her in the second and third frames.Santos, who played three years Division 1 school University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) in the US-NCAA, made the most of her rare opportunity with six points, four excellent digs, and four receptions "I'm grateful to have a lot of experience playing volleyball. I think I've been in my adjustment process, adapting to a new system of play," said Santos."At the end of the day, whenever I'm needed, I hope I'll be able to contribute to the team and help further their success."Santos played high school volleyball for NU and UST and then as a reserve for Ateneo in Season 84 women's volleyball back in 2022.The 5-foot-10 hitter then took her act to the United States for UIC albeit she was seldom-used in her three-year stay there that ended last year.A summa cum laude with a degree of Psychology minor in Biological Sciences, Santos then returned to the Philippines with De La Salle where she takes a masters in Clinical Psychology.Since she already finished a degree and is now taking up a masters, Santos is already eligible this year and has one more playing year left next season."The thing that keeps me going is my teammates, first and foremost, and I have full trust in my coaches. We've been working hard every day, in and out of the gym," said Santos."At the end of the day, whenever I'm needed, I hope I'll be able to contribute to the team and help further their success."Santos and the Lady Spikers improved to 8-3 in second place of the standings.The 22-year-old understands that the job's far from over for the storied De La Salle program."We're feeling good about our standing in the [season] so far. We're at a good spot, but you know, the work is not done yet. We still got a few more opponents to face (in the eliminations)," said Santos."We still need to work hard, build on that standing by collecting more wins, and we do that together as a team. While we're at second, we're not gonna be complacent. We're gonna continue working hard, even harder actually."