Lesson learned as coach Padda takes blame for Adamson’s failed season

Adamson University had a lot of promise going into the UAAP Season 80 women’s volleyball tournament.

After ending Season 79 with a 1-13 record, the Lady Falcons tore through the competition in the inaugural collegiate conference of the Premier Volleyball League going 5-0 in the eliminations.

Although Adamson ultimately lost to eventual bronze medalist Arellano University, the foundation was set to what was supposed to be a Lady Falcon uprising in the UAAP.

That uprising never happened.

READ: Padda says Adamson got ‘too excited, complacent’

The Lady Falcons still have one more game left in their UAAP Season 80 schedule but were officially eliminated when they succumbed to defending champion De La Salle, 25-21, 25-15, 22-25, 25-18,  Wednesday.

And head coach Air Padda takes the blame for the Lady Falcons’ failure to translate their off-season success to the UAAP.

“I apologize to everyone because ultimately it was my fault,” said Padda after her team’s loss to La Salle. “I’m the leader of the team and I failed everybody, that’s something that I’m going to learn from this season, where I went wrong as a coach and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

READ: Padda ’embarrassed’ of Adamson’s 52 errors in loss to UE

Adamson was decent in its first six games of the season going on a 3-3 record, including shock wins over Far Eastern University and La Salle, but two straight losses to University of the East and University of the Philippines brought the Lady Falcons back to earth.

The Lady Falcons tried to salvage their season with two straight wins against the Lady Warriors and National University to put their record at 5-5 but what followed was a string of three straight losses that effectively kicked them out of the Final Four race.

READ: Padda, Adamson embrace inner Wakandan in win over La Salle

Padda felt they let their chances slip away from them when they lost in five sets to UP and the Lady Warriors in the first round, and three more five-setters against the Lady Eagles, the Lady Maroons, and the Lady Tamaraws in the second round.

“We just felt that every opportunity we have, we just didn’t grab it,” said Padda as her team dropped to 5-8 with one game remaining. “They just threw it away.”

“To sum it up, it was basically about how many opportunities we had this season to make our team successful, to make the school proud, to make our management proud, and get to the Final Four.”