Bella Belen says NU Lady Bulldogs have lost their hunger

MANILA, Philippines – Bella Belen said National University needs to quench its hunger after losing in straight sets to La Salle on Wednesday in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Lady Bulldogs, who dominated the Lady Spikers in four meetings last year—including the final—without dropping a single set, got a dose of their own medicine after suffering a 10-25, 15-25, 21-25 loss to end it. the first half that slid them into the third at 5-2.

“Maybe for us players, our hunger to play seems to have disappeared. Like this game, it can be seen in La Salle that they want to win this game with points compared to us,” said MVP, who was the second leading scorer for NU with 12 points on top of nine great receptions. and seven digs.

(I think for us players we kind of lose our hunger. It is proof of this game that La Salle wanted more, point by point, compared to us.)

“Maybe we will return to ourselves, what is the main goal this season to recapture the hunger to play.”

(We need to return to ourselves and the main goal of this season is to generate hunger while playing.)

NU completed a perfect campaign last season to end a 65-year title drought.

But seven matches into the season, the Lady Bulldogs are nowhere to be found after being dragged the distance by Adamson, losing to the University of Santo Tomas in five sets and suffering another disappointing loss at La Salle to end the first round.

Fortunately for NU, there is still some time to get into killer shape and Belen believes he has reached the level he wants to start in practice.

“Our movement is shaky. There are games that we players don’t know if we can do it or not. I think it starts with training on how we will move and execute,” he said in Filipino.

After a trip to the championship last year, NU coach Karl Dimaculangan said he expects tougher competition to retain the title.

“La Salle deserves to win this game. I mean, they are very prepared. Hustle, eagerness, like in full play,” he said in Filipino. “We will take it as motivation and make the necessary adjustments. Let’s see in the second half.

“We will return to the preparation. We must prioritize our mental strength and try to do a short preparation for Saturday,” said Dimaculangan.

Belen said he is responsible and admits that his weakness is a key factor when they try to be a better team in the second round where they will directly face the Lady Spikers on Saturday at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.

“Let’s watch first, although it hurts to watch, but it is necessary to prepare. So we can see what’s missing in this game.”

(We will do some viewing first although it will be painful for us to watch the game. But we must do it for us to prepare well for them and see where we lack this game.)

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