Alinsunurin turns emotional as NU rides continued success in UAAP volleyball

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Dante Alinsunurin, the architect behind all seven NU men's volleyball titles and a historic five-peat, gets choked up as he recounts the time when Bulldogs volleyball was largely ignored in recruiting circles

MANILA, Philippines – Dante Alinsunurin watched in joy as the familiar sight of confetti rained down at the Mall of Asia Arena as his mighty NU Bulldogs rallied from a finals Game 1 loss to take the UAAP Season 87 men’s volleyball championship in three games against the FEU Tamaraws.

Though no stranger to winning after clinching the first UAAP men’s volleyball five-peat in 74 long years, the amiable mentor surprisingly teared up at the championship press conference, after he was asked about the definitive and consistent title-winning ways of both men’s and women’s programs.

Fans nowadays know NU as the undisputed kings and queens of UAAP volleyball, but Alinsunurin never forgot the days when the Bulldogs programs were afterthoughts in the collegiate scene, barely attracting recruits and often flirting with the very bottom of season standings.

His thoughts broken up by tears, Alinsunurin said in Filipino, “I’m just thankful of this situation because we worked hard for this from the start, when it was hard to recruit because the team was unknown. At the start, we were ignored. All our work has paid off.”

“I just hope [the winning] continues with whomever we place in NU,” continued Alinsunurin, the man behind all seven NU men’s volleyball titles. “As I said, we just don’t want to be champions, we want our players to level up in the Philippines up to other countries, so the volleyball programs improve not just for NU, but the Philippines as well.”

As a testament to his program’s sustained success, Alinsunurin managed to maintain a winning program through the pandemic, with the five-peat actually spanning eight years due to a three-year hiatus of UAAP men’s volleyball.

Amid unique struggles, the Bulldogs’ programs persevered, with Alinsunurin and his great pal Sherwin Meneses now leading the championship charge, the latter recently being named a first-time collegiate champion with the Bella Belen-led Lady Bulldogs.

“Of course, this is great for our careers. From the time we got together in one team, our true goals were every time we held a team, it had to be a champion, it had to perform, and we had to teach what we had because it was important for our careers, not just for our schools, but overall.”

Largely thanks to Alinsunurin’s recruitment and coaching systems, NU is now the golden standard in Philippine collegiate men’s volleyball, and will likely continue to be for the forseeable future.

Alinsunurin’s emotions, however, told the true story: the path to success was never a sure thing, no matter how easy they all made it look. – Rappler.com