Top seed Lady Spikers not slowing down

De La Salle is sitting in the apex of the UAAP Season 80 women’s volleyball tournament, but the defending champion has no plans of slowing down.

The Lady Spikers were given the choice of taking a break from Maundy Thursday until Easter Sunday but the 10-time champions were not too keen on taking a breather as the competition prepares for the league’s most critical turn.

La Salle’s next game in the tournament is on April 8, more than two weeks after its last game on March 24, and opposite hitter Kianna Dy said they won’t be slacking off despite the long lull.

“I think we’re still going to train and train even more,” said Dy in Filipino. “We can’t be out of condition in these two weeks before April 8.”

The Lady Spikers have been an immovable force in the season accumulating a league-best 9-2 record before the UAAP took a break and have ensured themselves of an automatic spot in the Final Four.

The defending champions are the best serving team with an average of 2.74 aces per set and are also the best digging team in the league with an average of 15.44 digs per set.

La Salle is also the no. 2 team in terms of setting with 9.44 excellent sets per period and the second-best team in terms of reception with an efficiency rating of 35.76 percent.

And the motor of that defense is the 5-foot Dawn Macandili, who not only made a name for herself in the UAAP but also in the Asian stage when she became the 2nd Best Libero AVC Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship.

Macandili, who is a two-time Best Receiver and one-time Best Digger in the UAAP, admitted that they can’t shake off the feeling of wanting to take a break in the holidays but their priority is maintaining their foothold in the tournament.

“We can’t lose our focus this Holy Week and of course it’s tempting to take a vacation,” said Macandili. “Of course we have our priorities, and we will train this break.”