Slow starts a problem as UST wraps up first round with a streak

The University of Santo Tomas (UST) Tigresses found themselves where they wanted to be at the end of their first round schedule in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament.

The National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs will be counting the days before they can say the same.

Now, the defending champions feel they need to work on a few things before a key – and, on many levels, familiar match – against the currently unbeaten tournament leaders.

“We have to fix our mindset,” said Sheena Toring, after helping the Lady Bulldogs to a 25-21, 25-9, 25-18 win over Far Eastern University (FEU) on Saturday. “In some games, we had on-and-off moments. Of course, we have to improve, especially since this is La Salle we are facing [next].”

NU takes a 5-1 (win-loss) record into a titanic matchup against undefeated La Salle (5-0) on Wednesday, but before that, Toring hopes the Lady Bulldogs learn to play early.

“We need our fire directly in the first flight for us to win,” she said.

The first set also caused problems for the Tigresses, who were attacked in the first set by the University of the East (UE) Lady Warriors before eventually winning 30-32, 25-18, 25-16, 25. -14 victory at the Filoil EcoOil Arena.

“We must strive for intensity on the field. We are always reminded that we must not maintain the intensity at the opponent’s level but aim better,” said UST star Eya Laure.

UST will enter the second round with a 5-2 record and plans to do better than the first round.

“Our coach is constantly reminding us to hit it better,” said Laure after a brutal kill on match point to cap an 18-point performance.

“We ended the first half well,” said UST coach Kungfu Reyes. “This is a big morale boost for the next round. It will be an additional motivation as we try to go beyond what we have done.”

Memories

NU can’t think about the next round with the game against La Salle—which is scheduled to play another tough team in Adamson (4-1) on Sunday—still hoping.

And it’s a match that will scratch a lot of memories.

The NU-La Salle duel is a rematch of last season’s title series dominated by the Lady Bulldogs. And this year’s Lady Spikers will feature a rising star in Angel Canino, a familiar face of Toring and reigning Most Valuable Player Bella Belen.

Canino dominated the La Salle-Zobel squad that ended its four-year high school reign in Belen, Toring and Nazareth School of National University in 2018.

“Of course, we are excited [to play against La Salle]. Haven’t seen him in a long time [Canino] so we look forward to Wednesday,” said Belen.

“Right now, they have the players to do it,” he added after pouring in 16 points in a win over FEU. “He’s really improved compared to before. Now, he’s fighting and punching, so it’s going to be a challenge for us. We’re going to prepare and go back to ourselves, see what we need to improve.

“We are going back to the drawing board, mainly because of him [La Salle] tomorrow we have a game,” said NU coach Karl Dimaculangan. “We’ll review it and we’ll start making a game plan. For now, we’re just preparing.

‘Respect our enemies’

Alyssa Solomon also sent the Lady Tamaraws with 14 points, including 10 attacks, while Princess Robles chipped in 12 points, the last two consecutive kills ended the suffering of FEU, which wound up with a 3-4 record entering the second round.

Laure’s power over Riza Nogales’ block capped a 14-attack performance while rookie Regina Jurado tallied 13 points, including 10 attacks for the Tigresses, who overcame a languid opening set.

“I told my teammates during the scrimmage that we have to respect our opponent and we don’t have to relax. We have to try to keep the intensity on the floor,” said Laure, who added six digs and three blocks to her stat line.

Filipina-Italian Milena Alessandrini was also in attack mode with 12 points and two service aces, Cassie Carballo had 15 good sets, while libero Bernadett Pepito registered 14 digs and 18 good receptions.

The Tigresses were in total control early in the first set, going up 17-9 and pulling ahead thanks to errors by the Lady Warriors.

That’s when they eased up on the gas pedal and inexplicably allowed UE to erase the deficit through the heroics of Janeca Lana, KC Cepada and Vanessa Bangayan.

—With a report from Rommel Fuertes Jr.

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