To the sports fans who have in a stay-at-home mode for a month or so with no thrills to share due to the suspension of sporting competitions across the global due to the COVID-19 pandemic, here’s another “Blast from the Past” item that might interest you.
It’s said that records are made to be broken.
One winning streak in local basketball that probably will not be duplicated, let alone surpassed, is the 96 straight victories established by the National University Lady Bulldogs in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) women’s basketball tournament in late November last year.
Coach Patrick Aquino’s female phenoms completed Season 82 (2019-20) with a immaculate 16-0 record, sweeping the 14-game elimination phase to advance to the title playoffs outright and then making short work of the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigresses in the finals with a pair of victories to punch in their sixth consecutive UAAP crown and extend their win skein to 96 games.
Next season, the Lady Bulldogs seek to destroy the all-time U.S. college basketball record – men or women – for consecutive victories held by the University of Connecticut women’s basketball squad. The Lady Huskies went 111 straight games without a defeat from 2014 to March 2017 and claimed a pair of NCAA championships.
UConn, the first team in U.S. NCAA Division I women’s basketball to capture four consecutive championships, also had winning streaks of 70 games (2001-03) and 90 games (2008-December 2010) before that time.
Shattering the Lady Huskies’ streak may be a herculean task for the Lady Bulldogs since they have to go win 16-0 again in UAAP Season 83.
And to turn in the trick, National University will be defending the UAAP title without seven of its core players, all of whom have already completed their five-year varsity eligibility.
The players are Monique del Carmen, the 2019 Finals MVP; Congolese center Rhena Itesi, Kelli Hayes, Jack Animam, Sam Harada, Ria Nabalan and Jheanne Layug.
Del Carmen, Itesi, Harada, Nabalan and Layug all played five UAAP seasons without suffering a defeat.
Previously, the University of Manila Hawks owned an 86-game winning streak in the NAASCU men’s competitions from 2001 to 2005.
Meanwhile, the second-longest winning streak in UAAP sports history belongs to the Adamson University Lady Falcons. The school won 73 consecutive games in women’s softball from 2010 to 2016.
In the local NCAA, the University of Perpetual Help System Dalta Altas men’s volleyball team owns the record for the longest winning streak in league history.
The Altas won 53 consecutive matches over five seasons from 2010 to 2014 that produced four championships in a row.