BY ABBY TORALBA
PROLIFIC rookie Casiey Dongallo and the University of the East intend to keep their focus amid the suspension of coach Jerry Yee in the 86th UAAP women’s
The league handed Yee a ban after “a complaint raised by a member school against coach Yee on account of conduct violative of the purposes of the UAAP–a platform for member universities to foster camaraderie and fair play.”
UE filed an appeal yesterday.
Yee, in a statement, said that “no ethical breach in my decision to accept UE’s head coaching job, because it was mutual parting ways for both Adamson and I.”
The veteran mentor, who was meted with a three-month suspension and is not allowed to be in the games venue, watched the Lady Warriors’ 19-25, 19-25, 28-26, 27-29 loss to the Adamson University Lady Falcons from afar.
UE players wore black armbands that had the name of their head tactician written on their muscle tapes.
“Iyon nga po iyong sabi ni Doc (interim coach Obet Vital) noong first and second set, mentally down kami. I think isa po iyon sa naging dagdag sa isipin namin. But as the game flows, hindi naman po nagkulang iyong coaches namin na i-remind kami to set that aside,” Dongallo said. “We just have to play our game kaya siguro noong third and fourth, lumalabas na iyong laro namin, pero nagkulang pa rin po talaga kami.
“Hindi po kami masyadong na-shock sa naging balita po sa amin kasi nga may naririnig na rin kami na baka nga pag ganitong game, i-off si coach Jerry. Nandoon po iyong coaches namin na parang i-motivate kami na dapat hindi kami magpadala sa ganoong bagay. We just have to use it as motivation.”
Vital said there was no due process on Yee’s stunning suspension.
“This is very important. What happened, and people are not gonna like what I’m gonna say, but what happened to coach Jerry was not done to coach Jerry alone, and I need UE, I need the UE community, the President, I need the student body, the student government, I need everybody to know that this wasn’t done only to coach Jerry–because we believe that there was no due process,” he said. “Alright? The timing of this being on a Friday, right before (the) Adamson (game), I think they’re not only targeting coach Jerry, but they’ve targeted the girls, the players, the UE community, the volleyball program, the whole organization.