Eya Laure, Tigresses win a big one for injured teammate Milena Alessandrini

MANILA, Philippines—University of Santo Tomas suffered a big blow to its campaign just four games into the UAAP Season 81 women’s volleyball tournament when its star spiker and reigning Rookie of the Year Milena Alessandrini injured her knee.

And it looked as if things are about to turn for the worse with the Golden Tigresses facing defending champion De La Salle in their first game since Alessandrini went down with a partial ACL tear.

The adversities and challenges, however, did little to deter UST as it went on to humiliate the Lady Spikers 25-20, 25-22, 25-17, in a game rookie star Eya Laure described as one of the biggest morale boosters of the season.

“As a rookie of course, La salle is always up there and they are the defending champions so this win is a big deal for us and not just for me but for the whole team to boost our confidence like this and know that we can do this,” said Laure in Filipino Wednesday at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

“This was a big win for us because this really helped our confidence and the trust in ourselves that we can do it.”

Laure, who finished with 15 points, said they have learned to accept Alessandrini’s injury and they made sure they would dedicate their win to their teammate.

The Golden Tigresses even sported hair buns the way Alessandrini would in honor of their teammate.

Alessandrini landed awkwardly on her left leg causing her knee to buckle in the second set against Far Eastern University Saturday an unfortunate incident that could lead to the sophomore missing the remainder of the season.

“When Ate Amiga got injured in the FEU game, if you saw us, our faces were just blank because we were shocked with what happened,” said Laure. “Coach Kung Fu (Reyes) then, talked to us and that was a big thing for the team.”