La Salle advances to UAAP Finals but loses team captain Galang

Photo by Bong Lozada/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—It was bittersweet for De La Salle University as they returned to the finals of the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament defeating National University 26-24, 21-25, 25-18, 25-21 but lost team captain Ara Galang to injury on Saturday evening at Mall of Asia Arena.

Galang went down with an injured left knee after giving the Lady Spikers a 23-20 lead in the fourth set.

She was rushed to the locker room but did not return.

Desiree Cheng composed herself and gave La Salle the 24-20 match point and substitute Justine Tiu sent the Lady Spikers to their fourth finals dance with Ateneo de Manila University with her attack bouncing off the Lady Bulldogs blockade.

It was Tiu’s lone point of the match.

Lady Spikers head coach Ramil de Jesus admitted he did not know of Galang’s condition yet and they would prepare for the finals without their team captain.

“I asked her, ‘can you still play?’ she just nodded sideways,” De Jesus said. “It’s hard for a team to lose a leader, a team captain.”

“We’ll start preparing, practicing without her.”

La Salle had a 22-19 bubble near the end of the fourth set but NU’s Rizza Mandapat scored off their blockade to cut it to 22-20.

De Jesus said they had to fill the void of Galang in any way possible and that his team should now rely on themselves as a whole and not just on one player.

“This will not end here, if we have limitations (with Galang out) we will find solutions to solve it,” he said. “The players now have to trust themselves and not just rely on one person.”

Galang had 25 points for La Salle, including six straight in the fourth set, while Mary Joy Baron and Cyd Demecillo each had 15.

Myla Pablo led NU with 19 points, with Jaja Santiago and Jorelle Singh adding 15 and 12 points, respectively.