UAAP: UST Tigresses eye strong end to first round

Setter Cassie Carballo has done a wonderful job activating UST’s scorers this season. —UAAP MEDIA

University of Santo Tomas was caught with its head in the clouds after stopping the long-running streak of the seemingly untouchable defending champion National University. For a while, the Tigresses felt they could just show up and scare an opponent into the loss column.

Then Adamson came in and gave UST a cold reality check.

“That Adamson defeat was a wakeup call,” UST coach Kungfu Reyes said.

“We prepared [well] coming from a big win [against NU] and we didn’t [expect] that we will perform badly,” he added.

Reyes hopes his Tigresses have learned their lesson.

Middle of the pack

“We have to master everything,” he said. “We have to polish our game. We study our opponents and scout them heavily [and understand that] it will pose a big problem if we cannot correct ourselves.’’

The Tigresses bounced back during the weekend with a 25-17, 25-23, 25-20 demolition of University of the Philippines to up their record to 3-2 (win-loss) to stay in the middle of the pack. And starting with that game against the Lady Maroons, the Tigresses embarked on a relatively easy path to the end of the first round.

After all, UST had already ran through a death stretch—in its first four games, the Tigresses played against three schools who currently occupy the top three spots.

So getting through to the end of the first round should be a relatively easier stretch for UST, one that Reyes hopes his team can get through with the fewest lapses possible.

“We’ve been trying to enhance our movement to between 80 to 85 percent, leaving only 10 percent for errors. The level of competition is increasing and it has become anybody’s game,’’ said Reyes.

‘Mental lapses’

UST Tigresses’ Eya Laure. UAAP PHOTO

Eya Laure will again lead UST’s attack crew with support coming from the likes of middle blocker Imee Hernandez, rising setter Cassie Carballo, Renee Penafiel, Regina Jurado, Jonna Perdido and Filipino-Italian Milena Alessandrini.

And even after bouncing back with a win against the Maroons, the Tigresses are still hoping the lessons picked up against the Lady Falcons will carry them through the rest of the way.

“We’re using that tough loss against Adamson as motivation. We have to be aggressive on the floor. If we don’t, nobody would believe in us,’’ said Hernandez.

“That Adamson loss was more on mental lapses. The mind wasn’t willing, so the body didn’t respond. We felt that we had been hexed,’’ said Reyes.