MANILA, Philippines—De La Salle head coach Ramil De Jesus wasn’t all too pleased with how his team performed against National University in the UAAP Season 81 women’s volleyball tournament.
The Lady Spikers were able to take the win in four sets, 25-10, 20-25, 27-25, 25-22, but De Jesus still ripped his players for their showing.
De Jesus did not like how his team played one bit against the Lady Bulldogs and that the Lady Spikers should blame themselves, not their opponents, when they make a mistake.
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“I always tell my players that when you make a mistake, that’s on you,” said De Jesus in Filipino Wednesday at Filoil Flying V Center. “You can’t blame it on the opponent. Once you leave the service line, everything falls on you.”
De Jesus, owner of all 11 of the Lady Spikers’ UAAP titles, was visibly frustrated during second set and only simmered down after the game when he began joking with his players.
Despite that, he remained his tone of authority that the Lady Spikers know would bring forth some added training.
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De Jesus likened his players’ errors and lackluster performance to a basketball player shooting routine free throws.
La Salle committed 25 errors, six less than what the Lady Bulldogs did, but those were still too many for De Jesus’ liking.
“If there was something wrong, we’re the ones responsible for it and not our opponents. That’s where I got frustrated,” said De Jesus.
“It’s just like free throws in basketball, you do it everyday so technically you’re all by yourself there since you’re the one taking it. If you make a shot then okay, what we did earlier were air balls and our shots didn’t even hit the rim.”
La Salle did improve to a 3-0 record to retain its top spot in the league.