After missing almost the entirety of Ateneo de Manila University’s Spikers’ Turf campaign, rookie setter James Licauco is looking to make up for lost time with the Blue Eagles in the 2022 V-League Men’s Collegiate Challenge.
Licauco missed a huge chunk of games in the Open Conference after suffering a hamstring injury a week before the Spikers’ Turf return. Making things worse, he also battled through dengue and a knee injury right after.
“Maybe a week before the Spikers’ Turf I got injured. Na-strain yung hamstring ko and medyo napunit pa siya so that really stopped me from playing. My knee injury pa rin ako until now and I got dengue and all that so I didn’t get to play nung Spikers’ Turf,” said Licauco.
Now back in uniform, Licauco is trying his best to catch up with the young Ateneo squad as they gear up for the upcoming UAAP season next year.
The younger brother of former College of St. Benilde standout and GMA Network artist David Licauco has been doing well so far for the Blue Eagles. He played his best outing yet for the Katipunan-based spikers on Friday, steering Ateneo to a four-set triumph over Far Eastern University at the Paco Arena.
Licauco delivered a game-high 28 excellent sets in the 19-25, 28-26, 25-18, 25-21 win over the Tamaraws that kept them at the top of Pool B with an immaculate 3-0 record.
The 5-foot-10 setter from Pace Academy said that handling the playmaking duties for a storied program like Ateneo definitely puts a lot of pressure on her shoulders. Good thing for him, though, is that a pair of great setters from the Blue Eagles’ nest are helping him navigate through his new role.
“I think syempre mape-pressure ka rin kasi Ish Polvorosa, five-time Best Setter sa UAAP, Egie Magadia, but I think the pressure helps. It helps me challenge myself to get better, especially nung bumalik si Egie sa amin ‘di ba and he’s lined up now sa V-League,” said Licauco.
“Since bumalik siya, mas na-challenge ako to get better and learn from him especially because I get to talk to kuya Ish also, I get to talk to them and learn from them,” he added, as Magadia rejoined the team for the V-League.
After a disastrous campaign in the Spikers’ Turf, Licauco and the rest of the Blue Eagles are eyeing redemption in the V-League.
“For V-League we just learned how to communicate with one another, how each other works, and how we can do better not only individually but in terms of as a team, as a whole na parang kapag may nagkulang, parang paano namin sila pupunan,” Licauco bared.
“Wala pa kami there. I can say that we’ve improved a lot but I think na konti pa, konting bonding pa, konting usap pa, konting salita pa and I hope na ma-reach namin yung full potential namin as a team.”
