UAAP volleyball: Okumu fails to find right mix in UP loss to Adamson
MANILA, Philippines – University of the Philippines coach Godfrey Okumu explains he doesn’t want to overwork his players after his various rotations against Adamson caused them to lose their first game. at the UAAP Women’s Volleyball Championship Season 84.
Okumu brought on 13 of his 14-man squad and tried different player combinations but UP saw its three-match winning streak ended by Adamson, 19-25, 25-19, 17-25, 11-25, on Thursday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“As a coach, I really want to have the best team possible. Today was a test for us as a team to try, especially in the fourth set. I also want to give the other players a chance,” said the Fighting Maroons coach after his first defeat in four games.
“If we don’t shuffle the players, we might overwork some players. At some point, yes, we have to take that risk of shuffling the players, and give the other players a chance to rest.”
Okumu admits it was a tough loss but he understands that all good things must come to an end as Alyssa Bertolano was the only bright spot for the Fighting Maroons with 15 points after the Lady Falcons overtook them in all divisions: 51-41 in attack, 8-2 on blocking and 9-2 on serve.
“It is not easy to accept a loss like this, but again, I say this is volleyball. Just another day in the office. Sometimes, you win some, sometimes, you lose,” he said. “Adamson played well today. We had a couple of weak points that when we got over them we weren’t as sharp as usual, and I think that was the downfall of today’s game. ”
The Kenyan coach reminded his players not to be too hard on themselves during their first loss, this would be a lesson and strengthen their bond.
“We expect a lot from players outside of us. But we really have to stick together whether we lose or win,” said Okumu. “We have to accept and learn to live with our wins and losses because that is a reality in sport. That’s the thing, so we talked about our situation now, and yes, that’s a good lesson we learned today. ”
Okumu hopes to see the lessons they learned from Saturday’s defeat when UP took on Ateneo (1-3).
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