WITH the men’s basketball and cheerdance competition already on the board, the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) turns its focus to other events starting this week for the nearing culmination of its compressed Season 84 amid the pandemic.
The men’s volleyball action fires off this weekend and on June 3-5 at the Sands SM By The Bay, rolling side-by-side with the ongoing women’s volleyball tournament entering its second round also this week.
In between those events is poomsae at the Mall of Asia Arena on May 31 followed by the men’s and women’s 3×3 basketball on June 1 and 2 in Calatagan, Batangas.
Right after that, men’s and women’s chess in a still to be determined venue will run from June 1 to 15.
But first thing’s first as the UAAP volleyball returns to action this Thursday featuring another loaded four-game bill after a week-long break to give way for the cheerdance competition.
Unbeaten National University (NU) (7-0) eyes to assert mastery of No. 3 La Salle (5-2) in the main game at 6:30 p.m. after the clashes of Adamson-Santo Tomas, University of the East-University of the Philippines (UP) and Ateneo-Far Eastern University (FEU).
FEU Cheering Squad over the weekend just ruled the first UAAP cheerdance tilt in three years, ending its own drought of 13 years behind a Queen-inspired routine. Adamson and reigning champion NU completed the podium.
In men’s basketball last week, UP snapped a longer dry spell by dethroning Ateneo in an epic three-game series to win its first UAAP title since 1986.
The UAAP settled for a limited calendar for the first time this season due to pandemic restrictions after cutting short the remainder of Season 82 in 2020 and scrapping the entire Season 83 last year. — John Bryan Ulanday