Lady Maroons buck academic pressure to survive Baguio

FILE—UP Lady Maroons. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

University of the Philippines has always maintained the position of being one of the best schools in the country and that’s the standard maintained by its students, including the athletes.

During the Lady Maroons’ Wednesday game against Baguio Cityn in the Shakey’s V-League Open Conference, the lasses in maroon-and-white could not help but feel fidgety.

It wasn’t just because they were up against veteran players, but also due to the fact that the Diliman school was going to release its students’ grades at the same time the Lady Maroons were on the court.

Lady Maroons head coach Jerry Yee said that it affected his players a lot, causing them to lose a bit of their focus on the game.

“Nenerbyos? Yes, malaking bagay kasi yun sa UP na pag bagsak ka ang daming problema like removals and all,” said Yee, who just had to laugh when talking about his players’ internal struggles. “Yes may kaunting anxiety.”

Team captain Kathy Bersola is running for summa cum laude while her co-captain Nicole Tiamzon is also in the honor roll of her batch.

Yee admitted he was unable to calm them down, though his team pulled through in four sets to arrest a two-game slide.

“Di ko na sila mapapakalma, sa totoo wala akong magawa,” said Yee. “Part na yata yan ng UP student life, so kailangan ko rin mag adjust and kung ano nandyan I have to work with what we have, so ok na rin at panalo kami at least.”

UP improved to 1-2 while Baguio fell to 0-3.