Ateneo Blue Eagles. UAAP PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Faith Nisperos believes Ateneo’s straight-set loss to La Salle proved that their young team still has more work to do in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament.
Nisperos was the lone double-digit scorer for Ateneo in their 16-25, 20-25, 13-25 loss to archrival La Salle on Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena.
“As a team, I can say this is a rollercoaster ride. UAAP, you could win some and lose some. It’s a never-ending cycle of learning. Today’s game just showed we need to work more. We have to acknowledge our own roles and work more. That’s it,” said Nisperos, who had a 10-of-36 attacking clip in their rivalry game.
Ateneo coach Oliver Almadro, who’s part of seven of Ateneo’s 11-game skid to La Salle, admitted his young team still needs to play with confidence together.
“We have to be confident as a team. Let’s not focus on the individual. If you play for yourself, you could be great, but if you play for bigger things than yourself, we will be able to build our confidence. We’ll work on it,” said Almadro, who tried starting Yvanna Sulit and setter Beautiliza Lomocso.
“We’ll take the positivity here that we risked starters now, right now. We’re trying that everyone should gain confidence. Unfortunately, our players’ confidence did not jive at the same time. I guess we have to work on continuous confidence and we have to do more things. I’m sure we’ll bounce back,” he added.
The Ateneo skipper agreed with Almadro as she tried to boost her young teammates.
“Every game, the pressure is always there. But what I try to tell them is just think about what you have to do, your role. And through that, you will be able to help the team, which will make it easier for us and we can work as one,” Nisperos said in Filipino. “We need to pay attention to our respective jobs.”
Almadro hopes that their loss to La Salle, led by rookie sensation Angel Canino, will push them to be better.
“Hopefully, that team that pushed us now will just push us forward. I always tell them those great teams will always push us forward. Hopefully, we can bounce back on the other teams. Many people will say, process but we need results. But sometimes, results are a process also. You just have to keep moving, undoing the things we need to do, especially inside the court,” the Ateneo coach said.
Nisperos knew that Canino, who fired 23 points, would deliver for La Salle and it was just a matter of matching the rookie’s confidence with their own as a team.
“Her skills, the way she played, I already know. I already saw how she played her past games. Well, Coach O is right that she’s confident. But for us, as a team, we need to counter that with confidence as well. That’s all we need to do,” she said.
Ateneo, which slid to a 1-2 record, tries to regain its winning ways against Far Eastern University on Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“We have to focus on our skills, on our realizations about the games that have passed. Lay on the table, all the things we did right and improve our lapses. That’s what we need. The UAAP is so fast, you have to recover right away,” Almadro said.