Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
It was an historic bow out for University of Santo Tomas in the 13 years of the Shakey’s V-League.
For the first time in the team’s history, the Golden Tigresses failed to enter the semifinals of the offseason games.
Golden Tigresses head coach Kung Fu Reyes, however, does not want to dwell in the negatives and instead focused into what his team can do in the future.
“Ang kailangan namin dito ay kung ano yung mage-gain namin,” said Reyes after the team’s 25-20, 25-18, 16-25, 25-19 loss to San Sebastian in the quarterfinals of the Collegiate Conference Wednesday at Philsports Arena.
“Pwede naman kami hindi sumali para hindi magalaw yung history namin. Pero sign ng kaduwagan yun, ito kami, wala kami dapat ikahiya, ito yung tao namin, ito yung nasa programa namin ngayon na naka-design para sa kanila.”
UST started the conference at 2-0 but a string of four straight losses that traversed the eliminations and quarterfinals sent them crashing.
A game against Ateneo is still in the background but the Golden Tigresses’ 0-2 record in the quarterfinals ultimately sealed their fate.
“Ang punto dito, yung welfare ng bata kung ano ang matututunan nila, yun ang pinaka importante, hindi yung nawala sa Final Four.”
For most of the conference, Reyes did not field proven stars Cherry Rondina, EJ Laure, and Ria Meneses.
Veterans Chloe Cortez and Alexine Cabanos also sat out games.
All those mentioned players, Reyes said, were not supposed to be included in the V-League lineup and they were just put in as insurance.
Reyes said he wanted his lesser-used players to get a feel of the game in preparation for their campaign in the UAAP.
“Lagi kaming nasa positive side kaya kami lumabas eh, alam naming mahina yung team pero kailangang ilabas,” said Reyes. “Matatawag mo ba kaming mahina yung eh pumasok ng quarterfinals.”
“Bigyan ng exposure mga bata, ilabas, iparamdam ang laro sa labas especially sa collegiate level. Makikita namin dito kung sino ang may potential umakyat.”