Ateneo Blue Eagles. UAAP PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Ateneo was far from satisfied after barging into the win column of the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament.
Instead of going to his postgame press conference, Almadro went straight to the dugout and had a 40-minute huddle despite their 25-17, 25-23, 24-26, 25-10 victory over University of the East on Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena.
Almadro had high expectations in the game, eager to redeem themselves after a straight-set loss to National University last Saturday.
“Well, I just reiterated the details. I detailed why it happened. maybe I had too much expectations for this game because we wanted to bounce back convincingly,” said Almadro in Filipino.
“In the first two sets and especially the third set. I didn’t see the things that I wanted to see, especially in executing our skills, and our fundamentals. I detailed the things that we need to improve going to the next games if we want to win,” he added.
Faith Nisperos, who scored 14 points to lead the Blue Eagles’ balanced attack, admitted their “performance was not what they wanted it to be.”
“It’s more of an internal thing what we need to do is strengthen our organization inside. We weren’t able to show the performance we wanted, which we were able to do in practice,” Nisperos said in Filipino. “It’s just a matter of how we’re going to show it in the game. I am not doubtful of my team. It’s just that it’s our time and our efforts.”
After failing to sweep the game after the Lady Red Warriors stole the set, Ateneo got its act together to dominate the fourth and improve its record to 1-1. The team captain attributed their coach, who lit the fire under them
“In the fourth set, I would give the credit to Coach O. He told us to have a goal. We just followed it and assert our will to win. I also told my teammates: Girls, we can do it. We just have to want it and we can do it,” said Nisperos. “We showed it in the fourth.”
Ateneo will face its fiercest rival La Salle, which won its first two games, on Sunday at MOA Arena.
Nisperos sees their underwhelming win as an opportunity to push themselves.
“It won’t make us relaxed. It’ll make us work harder and push us to learn more. We will study our movements and everything. That’s how I see the game today. It’s an opportunity and of course, eye-opening din for the whole team,” Nisperos said.