La Salle moves on from Ateneo, sets focus on Final Four
For someone who’s won 10 titles in the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament, Ramil De Jesus isn’t the type to put too much thought on an elimination round tussle.
The Lady Spikers moved closer to their third straight title, and the multi-titled head coach wants his team to focus on the more important games.
“We’re done with Ateneo, so it’s about time to focus on our next game and that is our semifinal match against NU,” said De Jesus in Filipino after their sweep of Ateneo, 26-24, 25-17, 25-19 Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena.
La Salle finished the eliminations with a league-best 12-2 record and will head into the semifinals with an eight-game winning streak.
De Jesus knows that even though they were stopped just twice in the preliminaries, the real measure of a team is how it handles the pressure-packed Final Four.
“I’ve always told them, throughout the whole eliminations that these games aren’t important,” said De Jesus, whose team will hold a twice-to-beat advantage against the Lady Bulldogs.
“The most important games are the semifinals and the finals, if we will get to the finals,” said De Jesus who owns all of La Salle’s titles. “That’s their motivation right now.”
“So that’s their motivation right now, they have to prepare for the semifinals and, if we reach it, the finals.”
