Cotabato’s Jau Umandal bags Spikers’ Turf MVP award

Jau Umandal is the Spikers' Turf Open Conference MVP. Spikers' Turf (file photo)

By Stewart Tan

MANILA--The AMC-Cotabato Spikers’ Jau Umandal took home the Most Valuable Player trophy at the close of the 2023 Spikers’ Turf Open Conference on Friday night at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

The 25-year-old former University of Santo Tomas Tiger Spikers star was the second leading scorer of the tournament after the semifinals after tallying a total of 236 points on 203 attacks, 22 blocks, and 11 aces.

Umandal placed inside the top five of all scoring categories, finishing third in the spiking department (45.82-percent), fourth in blocking (0.47 per set), and fourth as well in serving (0.23 per set).

D’Navigators-Iloilo’s Jade Disquitado and Wendel Miguel of Cignal HD Spikers were awarded the Best Outside Hitters while HD Spiker Ysay Marasigan nabbed the Best Opposite Spiker award.

Disquitado, the top leading scorer of the Open Conference, finished with a grand total of 293 points on 270 attacks, 12 blocks, and 11 service aces while Miguel placed 10th in scoring with 122 points built on 109 attacks, nine blocks, and four aces.

The 18-year-old rising star is fifth in the spiking category with a 45.30-percent success rate and the sixth best server with an average of 0.20 per set.

Meanwhile, Miguel shone on both ends after entering the finals as the second most efficient spiker with a success rate of 45.99-percent and the fourth best in digging (1.39 per set) and receiving (51.27-percent).

Marasigan, on the other hand, tallied 110 points off 95 attacks, eight blocks, and seven aces to finish 13th in scoring. He is also ninth in spiking efficiency with 40.43-percent and 10th from the service line with 0.16 per set.

JP Bugaoan of Cignal and Mfena Gwaza of the D’Navigators took home the Best Middle Blocker awards while Manuel Sumanguid III (Cignal) and JM Apolinario (Iloilo) are the Best Libero and the Best Setter of the tournament.

Bugaoan ranked sixth in scoring after putting up 158 points on a league-high 37 blocks, 116 points, and five service aces. He averaged 0.84 blocks per set, another league-high. Gwaza had 128 points, good for eighth, built on 85 attacks, 32 blocks, and 11 aces. He is also second in the blocking department with an average of 0.59 per set.

Apolinario, meanwhile, placed second in the setting department with an average of 4.41 sets per set while Sumanguid dominated the receiving (60.30-percent) and digging (2.34 per set) categories after placing first in both.

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