UST Tigresses in the UAAP Season 85 Women’s Volleyball Tournament. –UAAP PHOTO
The Tigers of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) have found themselves where they want to be at the end of their first round schedule in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament.
Lady Bulldogs of the National University (NU) will count the days before they can say the same thing.
For now, the defending champions feel they have to do some work ahead of an important showdown—and, at many levels, a familiar game—with the tournament’s now undefeated lead team.
Sheena Toring said: “We had to correct our thinking after helping Lady Bulldogs win 25-21, 25-9, 25-18 via Far Eastern University (FEU) on Saturday. “In some games, we have on and off moments. Of course, we need to improve on that, especially since this is La Salle we are facing [next].”
The NU took a record 5-1 (win-lose) in a horror game against the undefeated La Salle (5-0) on Wednesday, but before that, Toring hopes the Lady Bulldogs learn to start their game early.
“We needed to shoot in the first set to win,” she said.
The first set also posed a problem for the Tigers, who were ambushed in the first set by the Lady Warriors of Oriental University (UE) before they finally flew to a Win 30-32, 25-18, 25-16, 25-14 at the Filoil EcoOil Gymnasium.
“We have to work with intensity on the pitch. We are always reminded that we should not keep our intensity at the level of the opponent but try to do better,” said UST star Eya Laure.
UST will enter the second round with a 5-2 record and a plan to do even better in the first round.
“Our coaches always remind us to excel by always aiming to do better,” Laure said after delivering a merciless kill at the match to end the game. show his 18 points.
UST Kungfu coach Reyes said: “We finished the first round with a high score. “This is a huge mental boost to get into the next round. It will come as an additional boost as we try to surpass what we have already achieved.”
Memory
Bella Belen and NU Lady Bulldogs in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament. –UAAP PHOTO
NU can’t think about the next round just yet, with a match against La Salle — which is scheduled to face another tough team in Adamson (4-1) on Sunday — still looming.
And it’s a match that will spark a lot of memories.
The NU-La Salle match is a rematch of last season’s title series that Lady Bulldogs dominated. And this year’s Lady Spikers will have a rising star in canino angela familiar character to Toring and the current Best Player Bella Belen.
Canino supported the La Salle-Zobel team to end the four-year high school reign of Belen, Toring, and National University’s Nazareth School in 2018.
“Of course, we are very excited [to play against La Salle]. It’s been a long time since we’ve faced her [Canino] so we’re looking forward to Wednesday,” Belen said.
“Now, they have a player going through,” she added after scoring 16 points in the FEU win. “They have really improved compared to before. Now, they are really fighting and fighting so that will be a challenge for us. We will prepare and come back to ourselves, looking at what we need to improve on.”
“We’re going back to the drawing board, especially when they [La Salle] there’s a match tomorrow,” said NU coach Karl Dimaculangan. “We will look at them and then we will start planning the game. For now, we will only prepare.”
‘Respect your opponent’
Alyssa Solomon also beat Lady Tamaraws by 14 points, including 10 strikes, while Princess Robles scored 12, her most recent two consecutive knockouts ended the FEU’s misery, the team finished with a 3-4 record entering the second round.
Laure’s power overpowered Riza Nogales’ performance-limited 14-attack hit while rookie Regina Jurado took 13, including 10 attacks for Tigresses, who made it through a sluggish opening set. .
“I told my teammates in the conference call that we have to respect our opponents and not relax. We have to try to maintain our intensity on the floor,” said Laure, who added six digs and three blocks to his stats line.
Filipino-Italian Milena Alessandrini was also in attack with 12 points and two serves, Cassie Carballo had 15 excellent sets while libero Bernadett Pepito scored 14 digs and 18 excellent hits.
The Tigers took full control early in the first set, speeding up 17-9 and playing to their strengths against Lady Warriors mistakes.
That’s when they let loose on the gas pedal and inexplicably allowed UE to wipe out the deficit thanks to the heroes of Janeca Lana, KC Cepada and Vanessa Bangayan.
—With a report from Rommel Fuertes Jr.
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