While she built her name with the NU Lady Bulldogs, Dindin Santiago-Manabat is grateful to be part of UST's championship run back in UAAP Season 72.
Some fans might have forgotten that Dindin Santiago-Manabat is a UAAP champion—not with National University, but with the University of Santo Tomas.
Santiago-Manabat was a rookie during the Golden Tigresses' last championship run in Season 72, her lone season with the UST women's team before transferring to the Lady Bulldogs.
Under NU, Dindin, along with her sister Jaja, made their mark in UAAP volleyball, leading the team to multiple Final Four runs.
As she arrived to watch the Lady Bulldogs and Golden Tigresses go all out in Game 1 of their UAAP Season 86 Finals encounter, Santiago-Manabat couldn't help but get nostalgic and liken the current UST crowd to their championship audience back in 2010.
"Pagpasok ko palang dito sa entrance, nagulat ako sa crowd ng UST. Sabi ko parang eto 'yung crowd ng UST last Season 72 kasi parang naging part ako," Santiago-Manabat told One Sports.
But despite getting a quick trip back to memoray lane, the Akari Chargers star admitted having a hard time choosing which team to support given her history with both teams.
"Dalawa silang sinusuportahan ko. Actually, hindi ko alam sino iche-cheer ko kasi parang UST, NU, hindi ko alam sino mananalo kasi ang ganda ng laban," said Santiago-Manabat.
While she obviously made her name with NU, Santiago-Manabat is more than happy to be part of history with UST's golden run back in Season 72.
"Naging part siya ng history ko, so happy ako dun na naging part ako. Ngayon, bumabalik na sila [UST]. Parang ibang-iba na talaga UAAP and ibang-iba na 'yung mga bata, so sobrang happy ako [and] nakaka-overwhelm na naging part ako nung Season 72," said Santiago-Manabat.