MANILA – Libero Danielle Theris “Dani” Ravena will serve as one of the Ateneo Lady Eagles’ co-captains heading into next year’s University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 84 action.
The 21-year-old Ilongga confirmed her new designation to the defending UAAP women’s volleyball champion team, where she will be assisted by second-year players Faith Nisperos and Vanessa Gandler.
“Yes, I am taking the captaincy for the Ateneo Lady Eagles,” Ravena told Spin.ph. The volleybelle is the younger sister of NLEX Road Warriors star Kiefer and San-En NeoPhoenix import Thirdy.
Dani joined the Lady Eagles in 2017 and was a member of the team that won the UAAP Season 81 women’s volleyball championship at the expense of the University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses.
The Iloilo City-native’s ascension as the Lady Eagles team captain was not an ordinary feat as she became the first-ever Filipina libero to be named as such in any local volleyball team.
Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), based on its rule book, is not allowing volleyball teams to tap liberos as team captains before it was modified during the 37th FIVB World Congress in February.
According to the FIVB, upon review of the longstanding regulation under the federation’s rule number five, no particular reason was found not to allow a libero to serve as a team captain.
“Although the libero frequently enters and leaves the court, same as a team captain in many cases, there is no reason to not allow the libero to be captain,” it added.
However, Dani admitted that being one of the captains of the Oliver Almandro-mentored Lady Eagles is a significant challenge, especially in light of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, during which they were unable to conduct physical training.
“Having to unite a new team separated by distance is a challenge for me,” she said. “Throughout the long UAAP break, we do not meet each other and are only allowed to do Zoom sessions.”/PN
