La Salle finds strength after NU loss

De La Salle has had this habit of immediately going back to the drawing board after a loss, and the Lady Spikers did just that after they bowed to National University on Sunday in the UAAP Season 80 women’s volleyball tournament.

The defending champions lost their four-game win streak at the hands of the Lady Bulldogs, 26-24, 19-25, 22-25, 25-17, 16-14, that ended their unbeaten start and watched NU go to an immaculate 4-0 slate.

After the drawback, though, the Lady Spikers went back to business and dished out a three-set beating to woeful University of the East, 25-18, 25-17, 25-20.

“We really wanted to win immediately, and when we lost to NU we went straight back to the gym to fix our mistakes,” said Kianna Dy in Filipino Wednesday at Filoil Flying V Centre.

“And when we lost we knew we found our strength. We’ve addressed what we needed to do and that was realizing we needed to finish off games immediately and we shouldn’t be complacent even if we go up by two sets.”

In their game against NU, Dy and the rest of the Lady Spikers failed to counter a loose cannon in Jaja Santiago who finished with 27 points.

Against UE, however, La Salle stayed true to its course and denied the Lady Warriors any chance to get back at them.

Desiree Cheng finished off the Lady Warriors with two clutch kills that brought La Salle’s record to 4-1, half-a-game behind leader NU.

“One of the things we learned after the loss to NU was that we need to be fearless and have this emotional fortitude,” said Dy who had eight points against UE. “We have drills where we won’t stop unless coach Ramil [De Jesus] tells us to stop.”

“We have to show our toughness, show that we won’t give up no matter what. It’s connected to the game because you shouldn’t give up until the 25th point.”