Cherry Rondina. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—There were a lot of missed chances for Cherry Rondina and University of Santo Tomas on Wednesday.
The Tigresses had the chance to get shared ownership of the top spot, but Ateneo came back from a two-set deficit and stunned the Golden Tigresses, 19-25, 22-25, 27-25, 25-22, 15-11, despite Rondina’s historic performance.
Rondina finished with 35 points, the most a Golden Tigress has scored in a single game in the Final Four era, but she missed a chance to cap the historic performance with a win as UST settled for the third spot in the standings at 5-3.
“We always say ‘what if’ but someone has to win,” said Rondina in Filipino. “Someone won, we just have to learn from what we did today. We fell short, that’s it, the kids still lack experience.”
Rondina is on her fifth year and is no doubt one of the most experienced players in the league but her teammates like Eya Laure, Mafe Galanza, Rachelle Roldan, and Kecelyn Galdones—all of whom played in the fifth set—still has some learning to do especially in the collegiate level.
Despite Rondina’s heroism, her final attempt was what ultimately doomed UST.
Going up against a double block, Rondina tried to squeeze the ball down the sideline but the space was too tight that she connected with the antenna giving the final point to Ateneo, which improved to 7-1.
“I just had to laugh earlier because when I hit the ball it was over, I was the one that let my team lose because a lot would’ve happened if I scored that one,” said Rondina. “I’ll accept this loss with my heart as long as we’ve learned something from this.”