By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Filipina Asian import Jaja Santiago helped Saitama pull off a come-from-behind victory over Hisamitsu, 17-25, 27-25, 20-25, 26-24, 15-8, to begin their Division 1 round-robin Final Four semifinals in the ongoing Japan V. League tourney last April 8, 2023.
The former standout of the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs immediately buckled to work and filled the stat sheets with 17 big points built from 15 successful attacks, one service ace, and a block.
After losing a tightly-contested first set, Santiago and Saitama responded with a nail-biting win in the following set but again had to dig deep after Hisamitsu retaliated in the third to go up 2-1.
It was then the Santiago show at the start of the fourth set when Saitama decided to feed the Filipina that worked and helped force a deciding fifth set.
Santiago also paid off the trust her coaches gave to her when she finished on an efficient 15/22 power spike with four of those coming in the fifth set.
“I am proud of the players who persevered through this tough game. I expected it not to be an easy game, but I didn’t expect it to be this difficult,” said Ageo Medics head coach Shigekazu Okubo.
Despite only tallying one clean block, Santiago’s presence to disrupt the ball prevented any easy attacks from Hisamitsu in the last two sets.
Yuka Sato led Saitama with 22 big markers built from 24 total attacks while Sara Lozo, the club’s Serbian import, contributed 20 points.
Santiago will look to deliver another championship to Saitama and is the first-ever Filipina to win an overseas title when she led the same squad to the 2021 trophy.
Saitama faced the NEC Red Rockets in that championship game and won in a grueling five-set affair, 25-21, 25-22, 18-25, 18-25, 15-13.
