By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Bella Belen just cemented her name as one of the greatest collegiate volleyball players of all time after winning her second UAAP Women’s Volleyball Most Valuable Player (MVP) award on May 15, 2024.
After making history as one of the few Rookie MVPs in the UAAP two years ago, Belen will have another chance to lead the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs to a championship title this year if they wrap things up against the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Golden Tigresses in this year’s finals.
Belen had a total of 82.2 statistical points earned this UAAP Season 86 and ranked seventh in scoring with a total of 205 points.
Aside from her offense, Belen also stuffed the stat sheets in the two preliminary rounds and amassed 179 total attacks, 15 blocks, and 11 service aces.
Belen’s consistent outing in the regular season and the Final Four put her as the sixth most efficient spiker in the UAAP with 36.53%.
With all the impressive statistics Belen garnered in almost three months of UAAP action, the Lady Bulldogs finished as the best team in the league with a 12-2 win-loss record.
Placing second in this year’s MVP voting was UST’s super rookie Angge Poyos who hauled a total of 76.964 statistical points.
Despite not getting the MVP award, Poyos’ tremendous debut with the Golden Tigresses was highlighted by her UAAP Season 86 Rookie of the Year award.
Meanwhile, Alyssa Solomon, Belen’s teammate, was hailed as the Best Opposite Spiker of Season 86 after clinching 235 positional points.
