UAAP: UST Tigresses eye strong end to first round

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Setter Cassie Carballo has done a great job of activating UST’s scorers this season. – UAAP MEDIA

The University of Santo Tomas is caught with its head in the clouds after ending the long-running streak of defending champions National University. For a while, Tigresses felt like they could just show up and scare their opponents into the loss column.

Then Adamson stepped in and gave UST a cold reality check.

“This loss to Adamson was a wake-up call,” said UST coach Kungfu Reyes.

“We are preparing [well] coming off a big win [against NU] and we don’t [expect] that we will do badly,” he said.

Reyes hopes the Tigresses have learned their lesson.

The middle of the package

“We have to master everything,” he said. “We have to polish our game. We study our opponents and scout very well [and understand that] it will be a big problem if we can’t correct ourselves.”

The Tigresses bounced back over the weekend with a 25-17, 25-23, 25-20 demolition of the University of the Philippines to raise their record to 3-2 (win-loss) to stay in the middle of the pack. And since the game against the Lady Maroons, the Tigresses started an easy road to the end of the first round.

After all, UST has experienced death — in its first four games, the Tigresses played against three schools that currently occupy the top three spots.

So, getting to the end of the first half should be easier for UST, who hopes Reyes’ team can get through with the fewest lapses.

“We have tried to increase our movement to between 80 to 85 percent, leaving only 10 percent for errors. The level of competition is increasing and it has become anyone’s game,” said Reyes.

‘Mental lapses’

Yes Laure UST Tigresses. UAAP PHOTOS

Eya Laure will once again lead the UST attack crew with support from middle blocker Imee Hernandez, setter Cassie Carballo, Renee Penafiel, Regina Jurado, Jonna Perdido and Filipino-Italian Milena Alessandrini.

And even after bouncing back with a win against the Maroons, the Tigresses are still hoping the lessons learned against the Lady Falcons will carry them through the rest of the road.

“We used the tough loss against Adamson as motivation. We have to be aggressive on the floor. Otherwise, no one will believe in us,” Hernandez said.

“This loss of Adamson is more about mental decline. The mind refused, so the body did not respond. We felt that we had been hexed,” said Reyes.

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