By MARK REY MONTEJO
This early, La Salle has made it desire – reclaim its lost glory in the UAAP Season 88 women’s volleyball tournament – known to everyone with a pair of commanding performances.
After sweeping past Far Eastern University to jumpstart their title bid, the Lady Spikers produced another stellar performance, claiming another 3-set win over host University of Santo Tomas last Sunday, Feb. 22, at the jam-packed Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Before the rapturous 15,222 fans, the Lady Spikers imposed their will in the first two sets before pulling off a stunning comeback in the third to complete a 25-14, 25-15, 26-24 victory against the Golden Tigresses, proving their mission wasn’t just words but also with true actions.
“Of course, a strong team like UST pushes us to be our best. At the end of the day, we are our worst opponent, we are our best opponent,” said Shevana Laput, who finished with 22 points, including those blocks and hits that turned a 22-24 deficit into a 26-24 escape.
“We played better, because we want to play better, no matter what team we played against, we will play our best,” she added.
That resolve was echoed by Laput and Angel Canino after their win over FEU, stressing that the Lady Spikers are determined to take their game and their campaign to greater heights this edition.
“Bago po kami pumasok sa UAAP mataas po ‘yong kumpiyansa namin sa sarili namin, isa ‘yon sa nagbibigay kumpiyansa samin kasi bawal din talaga kami bumaba,” said Canino.
“Ayon na ‘yong legacy namin, ayaw na naming bumalik sa heartbreak na naramdaman namin for the past few years na nandito kami sa UAAP,” she added. “As seniors, gusto namin iparamdam sa mga teammates namin at sa mga tao na walang nag-iba kundi umakyat sa taas hindi na para bumaba kami.”
It came after the Lady Spikers fell short of their championship bid, yielding to the Lady Bulldogs in last year’s finals, a loss that dashed their hopes of bringing the crown back to Taft which last happened in Season 85 where Canino was once a multi-awarded super rookie.
La Salle had actually bettered its start from last season where it had a 1-2 record, which became one of the school’s worst starts under head coach Ramil de Jesus’ long tenure with the Taft-based squad.
The sweep, however, was far from La Salle’s previous encounters with UST in which most of their games were decided by four to five sets.
“Napaghandaan lang namin ng [maayos] ‘yong UST, ‘yong game plan ni coach [Ramil] na sinabe sa kanila, nasunod lang, ginusto nilang manalo kaya ayon ‘yong resulta, kailangan nilang paghirapan talaga,” said La Salle depute Noel Orcullo.
“Just like coach [Noel] just said, we wanted to win this game, of course we wanted to win all our games in three sets… we just really showed the La Sallian puso, right there,” said Laput.
La Salle looks forward to extending its win streak to three against University of the Philippines this Wednesday, Feb. 25, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
