Alex Santos had a remarkable two-year stint with the UST Female Tennisters, experiencing just one defeat in her career.
Despite having one more year of eligibility remaining, she has chosen to move on. While she is departing from the UAAP without many individual accolades, apart from the team’s bronze medal in Season 85 and silver medal in Season 86, she is not leaving with any regrets.
“Part lang naman ito ng buhay natin,” she told the Varsitarian. “Siyempre, kailangan ko rin mag-focus sa career ko. Gusto ko talagang maging doctor.”
Santos has been a part of UST throughout her college years, but her UAAP journey only began in Season 85 after the pandemic hiatus. Santos dominated the elimination round undefeated, but the team was only able to snag a third-place finish.
In Season 86, she retained her unbeaten record and steered the team to the finals. She suffered her first defeat in two seasons in Game 2 of the finals against NU’s Elsie Abaquez.
She won her singles match in the do-or-die Game 3, but UST fell short against NU, losing 3-2 and settling for the silver medal.
Despite her outstanding run, Santos concluded her collegiate tenure without receiving an MVP award, as in the UAAP tennis tournament, the MVP is typically awarded to players from the champion teams. In Seasons 85 and 86, both won by the NU Bulldogs, the team had the privilege of selecting the MVP.
Unlike the men’s division, there is no separate award for Season and Finals MVP in the women’s division, as there must be at least seven teams for this distinction. The women’s tournament includes only five universities: UST, NU, Ateneo, UP, and DLSU.
Despite her not receiving any individual awards and falling short of securing a championship for UST, Female Tennisters head coach Dennis Sta. Cruz said Santos consistently exhibited MVP-caliber performance throughout her UAAP career.
“What can I say about Alex? Kung puwedeng siya MVP every year, MVP siya,” Sta. Cruz told the Varsitarian.
Santos hails from a family with a strong background in UST varsity sports, which caught the attention of Sta. Cruz and led to her discovery. She began playing tennis in 2004, and her father operates a tennis school in Palawan.
Santos was initially set to depart from the team last year, but Sta. Cruz strongly advocated for her to remain and help the team reach the championship. She then enrolled in the Health Professions Education program at the UST Graduate School, benefiting from a full scholarship.
“Gusto talaga ni coach na magkaroon ako ng championship sa UAAP,” Santos said. “Grabe ‘yong pag-convince niya to have me back sa team kasi sobrang nasayangan siya sa’kin dahil matagal niya akong inantay…simula elementary pa lang.”
Although she is still eligible for another year of play, Santos has already said goodbye to UST in order to focus on her work as a licensed pharmacist in Puerto Princesa and, ultimately, to pursue her dream of becoming a medical doctor.
“There was never a time I regretted coming back to play again for my dear beloved UST,” Santos said in her farewell post on Facebook. “Paalam UAAP, Paalam UST, Alexei Santos out.”
With fellow veteran and UST co-captain Miles Vitaliano also leaving, the Female Tennisters will look to the leadership of this season’s Rookie of the Year, Kaye Emana, along with current team captain Nicole Bautista for Season 87.
