Tigresses on wrong side of history as Lady Warriors finally end skid
University of Santo Tomas just made history for all the wrong reasons.
For more than two decades, the Golden Tigresses had never lost to the Lady Warriors but that ended on Friday in the UAAP Season 80 women’s volleyball tournament.
University of the East stunned UST in four sets, 25-23, 18-25, 28-26, 26-24, to win its first string of two straight games since 2012, and Golden Tigresses head Kung Fu Reyes had no choice but to accept that they were on the wrong side of history.
“I told the players that play this game for the school, ‘if we lose here we will make history and until the day you go old you will bring this with you,’” said Reyes in Filipino Wednesday at Filoil Flying V Centre.
The victory marks UE’s first win over UST since the 1993-1994 academic year.
“I hope this becomes a lesson for the team that they should always protect the pride of the school, although I commend University of the East for overcoming this winless spell.”
What made the Golden Tigresses’ loss to the Lady Warriors more dismal was how they collapsed in the third and fourth sets after getting the 24th point.
UST held a 24-20 lead in the third before allowing UE to go on an 8-2 run to close the set at 28-26.
The Golden Tigresses also broke down in the ensuing set when they wasted a 24-22 lead after allowing Mary Ann Mendrez and Shaya Adorador to exchange hits for the 24-24 tie and committing two straight errors to award UE the victory.
“We still lack that finishing ability so we really have to correct that issue,” said Reyes, whose team slipped to 2-6. “We have to assess what has happened because we have to change this second round. We have to fix every issue that we have.”
