ONCE you’ve experienced the finals, you’ll want to replicate it the next season. That’s what the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Golden Tigresses are demonstrating as they prepare for a tougher second round.
Despite losing key players early in the UAAP Season 87 Women’s Volleyball Tournament, the Golden Tigresses finished the first round with a commendable 5-2 win-loss record, enough for a third place in the standings.
Nonetheless, UST team captain Detdet Pepito remains unsatisfied with the team’s performance, particularly their finals rematch loss to archrival National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs on Sunday, March 16.
Hungry Tigresses
During their first meeting this season, the Golden Tigresses led the Lady Bulldogs 2-1. However, they missed an opportunity to end the game, which proved to be the determining factor.
The España-based squad struggled to capitalize on their lead in the fourth set, as NU’s attacking skills outperformed their UST counterparts, exposing some of their main weaknesses.
Having said that, the Golden Tigresses’ libero Pepito stated that she believes the factor that led to this loss was their receiving performance, as demonstrated when NU made a huge run.
Photo Courtesy: UAAP Media Group
“Sa skills, ‘yung receiving namin kasi sobrang bumaba talaga siya. Very challenging siya kasi naging tactical lahat ng teams na i-iwas sa akin,” said Pepito, who put up 24 digs and 13 receptions against her friend Bella Belen.
After the first round, Pepito was the second-ranked player in the digging department with an average of 4.21 per set, as well as the league’s sixth-best receiver with a 32.61% efficiency.
UST finished second overall in digging with an average of 10.31 per set, but they were second to bottom in receiving efficiency with 22.10%, barely 0.29% ahead of the eighth-placed UE Lady Warriors.
Stepping Up
Now that they’ve understood what has to be improved, Pepito insisted that the team still has a long way to go if they want to make this season a success and revenge their Season 86 Finals defeat.
“Dapat i-push namin yung team. Dati libero lang yung nag e-extra, pero lahat ng passers nag e-extra na. Tapos, ‘yung ka-diagonal rin ni [Angge] Poyos, kailangan naming makita yung perfect match. As of now, hindi pa rin namin makita,” she said.
“Marami pa kaming pagtatrabahuhan. Tiya-tiyagain talaga namin, kasi unexpected naman na ganito ‘yung magiging record namin.”
“Pangit ‘yung pinakita namin nung first round, medyo naging okay naman nitong last game namin. Naging sukatan yung first round kung hanggang saan yung kaya namin,” the graduating libero added.
While Pepito and the rest of the UST players were honest in their appraisal, there is one bright spot: they fought a tough battle against the reigning champs, which they may bring into the second round.
“Itong game na ‘to, nag bigay ng kumpyansa sa team namin na kaya pala talaga namin kahit na maraming key players na wala. Ang daming nawala sa’min, ang daming pang ipo-polish, pero ‘yung result, nag fi-fifth set kami against a champion team,” she said.
The UST Golden Tigresses will try to alter their second round and bounce back to gain momentum against the FEU Lady Tamaraws on Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, in Pasay City.
