MANILA, Philippines—Call it coincidence, but University of the East has a knack of taking its wins against Adamson University.
The Lady Warriors have been a team of futility for the better part of the decade, failing to enter the Final Four and trudging through a few winless seasons but whenever they get the win the Lady Falcons are always on the table.
From Season 78 to 80, UE has won a total of four games and three of those came against the Lady Falcons.
UE’s first win in the UAAP Season 81 women’s volleyball tournament also had the same theme with the Lady Warriors disposing of the Lady Falcons in four sets, 20-25, 28-26, 25-23, 25-22.
“I think it’s just in the timing because we really wanted to avenge our loss from our previous game and it just so happened that we played against Adamson,” said outside spiker Judith Abil in Filipino Wednesday at Filoil Flying V Center.
UE lost to National University in its last game, 25-19, 25-23, 25-19 but the win over Adamson brought the Lady Warriors to a 1-2 record, tying Far Eastern University for the sixth spot in the ladder.
Star libero Kath Arado, who won the Best Digger and Best Receiver awards in Season 80, said the team badly needed to shake off its horrendous performance against the Lady Maroons and Adamson wasn’t in the equation at all.
“Judith’s right, I think it was just in the timing because last game we were terrible, we couldn’t do anything right,” said Arado who had 39 excellent digs and 28 successful receptions.
“Coach Carl [Dimaculangan] told us that every game this is season is important so we really give it everything in training,” added Arado.
Abil, who had a game-high 22 points, said they wanted to make right on mistakes against the Lady Bulldogs, which explains their spirited fight against the Lady Falcons.
“We wanted to show that we can recover from our mistakes in our last game, it’s just a coincidence we played against Adamson,” said Abil.
Arado said that they don’t want to waste their efforts of training hard everyday and they also wanted to repay their coaches for the guidance they receive day in and day out.
“I think it’s a waste that we wake up early in the wee hours, train early in the day, just to lose,” said Arado. “The coaches are giving us their efforts, so we should repay them for it.”