MANILA, Philippines—De La Salle’s three-set loss to University of the Philippines last Sunday in the UAAP Season 81 women’s volleyball tournament has left such a negative imprint on Desiree Cheng.
The Lady Spikers, the league’s defending champions, fell to the hands of the Lady Maroons for the second time this elimination round, 25-16, 26-24, 25-19, making Cheng eager to turn things around against National University.
Cheng finished with 17 points in La Salle’s 25-20, 25-18, 25-10 trumping of the Lady Bulldogs Wednesday in a performance fuel by the desire to erase the past.
“There are times that I thought to myself that I didn’t do enough and even though this is a team sport and everyone’s expected to contribute I’m still one of those people who are expected to deliver,” said Cheng in Filipino.
“I was motivated to get back and put on a better performance. I was motivated to wake my teammates up that enough was enough and we will have better opponents along the way.”
The Lady Spikers’ win against the Lady Bulldogs brought them to a second-place tie with University of Santo Tomas with both teams sporting identical 6-3 records.
La Salle has yet to face UST, a team it lost to in the first round, and league-leading Ateneo that holds a 7-1 record.
“I hope this kind of performance goes on and I wish we can become consistent because that’s what I personally want to see from the team,” added Cheng.