Sebastian Santos, UST Finished What They Started

Sebastian Santos and the UST Tennisters know that a championship is never only about the day it is won.

For Santos, the story of UST’s men’s tennis team has always been about more than wins and losses. It is about what a team chooses to do with both.

Coming off the UAAP Season 87 Tennis Tournament, where UST settled for silver, there was already something to build on.

They had been champions before. UST won the title in Season 85, defended it in Season 86, then came close again in Season 87. They knew what it felt like to be on top.

“Last season, we fell short. We got second. Siyempre masakit siya, lalo na alam namin na kaya naman namin manalo, kulang lang talaga.”

There is something about that kind of loss. It does not break you, but it stays with you. It lingers in training sessions, in quiet moments, in every drill you repeat knowing you were just one step away.

For UST, Season 87 did not become a memory to avoid. It became something to face.

“Ginamit namin yun as motivation coming into this season. Lahat kami, dala namin yung feeling na yun every training, every game.”

And if you have ever been part of a team, you know how that shift feels. A loss can sit heavily at first. Then, slowly, it becomes something else. It becomes a reminder. It becomes a standard. It becomes the reason no one wants to leave anything unfinished again.

“Coming into Season 88, mas focused kami, mas hungry kami. Hindi na kami pwedeng magkulang ulit,” Santos said.

The joy of becoming champion. The responsibility of defending. The frustration of falling short. That awareness changed how they showed up, not just when matches counted, but in everything before them.

Because championships are rarely decided only on game day. They are built long before that.

“Every training, we made sure na may purpose. Hindi lang basta ensayo, talagang pinaghandaan namin bawat laban.”

That purpose followed UST through a season that asked more from them than dominance. There were sweeps that reminded them of their level, but there were also difficult ties that tested their patience. There were moments when they had to respond after losing, moments when they had to trust the next player up, and moments when the season could have slipped away if one match had gone differently.

That was the point of the work. Not to make everything easy, but to make them ready when it became hard.

In the UAAP, tennis becomes something larger than the player standing on court. The format may put one athlete under the spotlight, but every point still belongs to the team. Every result moves everyone with it.

“Hindi lang siya individual sport dito sa UAAP. Kahit ikaw yung nasa court, dala mo yung team mo. Lahat ng ginagawa mo, para sa kanila.”

For Santos, who carried the role of team captain in Season 88, that responsibility was even clearer. He was no longer just one of the players trying to help UST win. He was one of the voices expected to steady the group, especially when the path back to the title became complicated.

But for the Tennisters, pressure was never something to run from. It was something to understand.

“Pressure is always there. Pero natutunan namin kung paano i-handle yun, paano hindi magpadala sa kaba,” Santos stated.

Over time, you begin to understand what composure really means. It is not the absence of nerves. It is the ability to keep playing while they are there.

That steadiness became one of UST’s biggest strengths.

“Composure talaga yung nagdala sa amin. Kahit dikitan yung laban, hindi kami nagpapanic, kumakapit lang kami.”

The season kept proving why they needed it. UST had to earn its way through tight matchups, including a Final Four run that demanded a response after being pushed to the edge. In the finals, the Tennisters moved ahead, stumbled, and had to return one more time for a winner-take-all Game 3 against UP.

That was where the story became less about a single match and more about everything Santos had been talking about all along.

UST had already known heartbreak. It had already known what it meant to be one tie, one set, or one swing short. This time, when the moment came back to them, the Tennisters did not let it pass.

It was not always flashy. It was not always dominant. But it was enough. Enough to hold on during tight matches. Enough to recover after difficult days. Enough to trust each other when the pressure grew heavier.

Because at the end of the day, that is what carried them back.

“Everyone stepped up. Hindi lang isa, hindi lang dalawa. Lahat kami nag-contribute para makuha yung championship,” Santos said.

When UST finally reclaimed the UAAP Season 88 men’s tennis championship, it did more than return the trophy to España. The Male Tennisters captured the program’s 17th UAAP crown, extending a legacy that has been built across eras, players, and teams. But for this group, the title also meant something more personal.

It was redemption, but it was also confirmation.

“Worth it lahat ng pagod, lahat ng sacrifices. Ito talaga yung pinaghirapan namin buong season.”

It took UST 11 years to return to the top in Season 85. They did it again in Season 86, accepted silver in Season 87, then came back in Season 88 to reclaim what they had spent a year chasing.

This time, they made sure they finished the job.