Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—The Oliver Almadro era with Ateneo started off on the wrong beat.
Ateneo got crushed in its first game of the UAAP Season 81 women’s volleyball tournament losing to De La Salle in four sets, 25-14, 25-17, 16-25, 25-19, Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena but Almadro, multiple-time champion coach, said the Lady Eagles have yet to reach peak form.
Almadro said the UAAP is a long march and that the team can still fix the wrongs that it did against the Lady Spikers.
“They’ve seen our worst, but they haven’t seen our best so we will bounce back from this,” said Almadro in Filipino. “We’ll have to prepare whatever we need to take care of and whatever strength we have will be improved.”
Almadro is the owner of Ateneo’s three titles in the men’s tournament and was tasked to replaced Tai Bundit, who led the Lady Eagles to their two championships, for Season 81.
And although his first game ended in disappointment, the confident coach said the team would learn from the loss and keep in mind the positives that they could take away from it.
A positive that happened to the Lady Eagles, though, was the emergence of rookie setter Janel Maraguinot who started the third and fourth sets in place of Season 80’s Best Setter Deanna Wong.
“The UAAP is a long season and what matters is the last game of the season so we will take the positives on this game,” said Almadro. “There are days when Deanna would be really off on her game and it’s a good thing Jaja lifted us up considering she’s a rookie.”