La Salle stretches spotless season start, seeks stronger showing as two key matches beckon

La Salle preserved its winning streak by defeating another opponent on Saturday, but coach Noel Orcullo could see that the Lady Spikers’ unbeaten streak is still far from perfect.

“There are still a lot of things that need to be fixed,” he said. “We keep doing lapses and there is a tendency to relax every time we advance by a wide margin.”

That tendency to relax grew in the third set of what was starting to look like routine sailing for La Salle against the dangerous Far Eastern University (FEU) – taking a crucial point from Thea Gagate at the net to finally close out the Lady Tamaraws. , 25-16, 25-18, 25-21, at the PhilSports Arena.

“We have to prepare our moves going into the last two games [of the first round]. We have to overcome all the shortcomings and find the weakness of the enemy,” said Orcullo.

And it won’t be two regular games for La Salle.

After winning 5 in as many games, the Lady Spikers will close out their first round schedule against Adamson and defending champion National University (NU).

The Lady Bulldogs have lost just once this season — to the University of Santo Tomas (UST) — and only once, in fact, in their last 22 league games. The Lady Falcons, meanwhile, after having dragged NU to a five-setter before losing, whipped the Tigresses to establish themselves as a legitimate title threat.

“Adamson is a solid team and there’s no chance you’ll see them make a mistake. It’s going to be very difficult against this formidable team,” Orcullo said.

Gagate and rookie Angel Canino delivered 13 points apiece for La Salle, whose high-scoring 19-pointer Mars Alba delivered the main attack against FEU.

“This win boosted our confidence as a team. In terms of defense, we improved a lot,” Canino said.

The Lady Tamaraws tied the game in the third set but Gagate, a 6-foot-2 middle blocker, pushed the Lady Spikers to match point before Cherie Tagaod’s attempt hit the aerial in the final round, dropping FEU to 2-3. card (win-lose).

La Salle will have an additional weapon up its sleeve as it looks to shake off any remaining deficits in the game.

Minor knee injury

Alleiah Malaluan is back from a minor knee injury and is slowly working his way back into La Salle’s rotation, providing the league-leading school with another offensive option at the outside hitter position.

“I’m still adjusting on the court since I was [feel] like [I am] new players. Even though I have practiced with them, I have to adjust more because they move differently,” said Malaluan, who knows the importance of getting back into match shape as La Salle prepares for its last two games.

“This match is a good learning experience because the next game will be against a high-level team. This is a boost to our confidence and at the same time we will be able to improve our lapses because we cannot say that our game is perfect,” said Malaluan.

In the second game, UST bounced back from its loss to Adamson by defeating University of the Philippines, 25-17, 25-23, 25-20.

Eya Laure led the Tigresses with 14 points, while Imee Hernandez added 11 points.

“In the last game, we didn’t expect to do it that way. We did it in practice and we managed to do it right this time,” Hernandez said as UST went up 3-2.

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