For the past six years only two teams have featured in the finals of the UAAP women’s volleyball finals, and those were Ateneo and De La Salle.
And in those six matchups, the Lady Spikers hold a 4-2 advantage over the Lady Eagles in terms of championships.
This duopoly, however, is in danger as No. 2 Far Eastern University tries to spoil the party.
FEU head coach George Pascua said the pressure is on them to stop another Ateneo-La Salle finals series.
“The pressure’s on the players because this can be our 30th title, and we’re the hosts, so the chance is really here for us to be successful,” said Pascua in Filipino after beating National University, 25-21, 25-22, 16-25, 25-20, Sunday in their final elimination round game Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena.
“We were given this chance and I don’t want to lose it,” added Pascua.
FEU’s skipper Bernadeth Pons, who has been to the Final Four in four of her five years as a Lady Tamaraw, said the pressure to succeed has always been there for FEU and she knows that it’s up to them to deliver.
“The pressure is always there, we’re always reminded that we should always breath in that pressure because if we don’t we will be thrown off track on what we should be doing,” said Pons, who had 17 points against NU, in Filipino.
“So we challenge ourselves on what we should do and what our roles are in the team,” added Pons.
Even Pons’ younger teammates Toni Rose Basas and Heather Guino-o are aware of the pressure that comes with donning the green-and-gold jersey.
“We’ll just use that pressure in a positive way so we won’t have a hard time playing,” said Basas, who finished with nine points, in Filipino. “We’ll just take in what coach tells us.”
Guino-o, who had six points against the Lady Bulldogs, echoed Basas’ words while also mirroring her captain’s statements.
“We can’t waste this opportunity because we’ve already started on this journey, we should work doubly hard if we want to get into another level,” said Guino-o in Filipino. “We just have to think that the pressure will help us, we’ll handle it the right way so it can help us reach our goal.”