Diana Carlos came out to be University of the Philippines’ designated closer against Adamson University in the UAAP Season 80 women’s volleyball tournament.
The Lady Maroons ground it out in five sets against the Lady Maroons and came away with a hard-fought 25-18, 14-25, 25-19, 21-25, 16-14 victory to bump their record to 3-5.
It wouldn’t have been possible if Carlos didn’t light up in the decisive set for the Lady Maroons.
Carlos, however, was quick to deflect the praise for herself and instead shared the limelight with her teammates.
“I won’t be able to get those spikes if it weren’t for my teammates, they were the ones who made the sets and, really, I won’t be able to do it without them,” said Carlos in Filipino Saturday at Filoil Flying V Centre.
UP looked at a 14-13 deficit late in the fifth set before Carlos worked her heart out.
Carlos first hit her spike off Mary Joy Dacoron to tie the fifth set at 14-14 before replicating the same move for UP’s 15-14 lead.
“I didn’t take charge in the fifth set, we took charge in the fifth set,” said Carlos who finished with 22 points. “We wouldn’t have won in this match if we didn’t want to win this match. We really had to own this match.”
“When it comes to the fifth set everyone’s on the same playing field, and it will come down to who has the bigger heart and coach [Godfrey Okumu] told us that this was our day and we had to take it.”