NU Lady Bulldogs. UAAP PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Alyssa Solomon and Cess Robles made the most of their Holy Week break to recharge as National University earned its third straight win in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament and stayed in the hunt for the twice-to-beat incentive in the Final Four.
Since losing to league leader La Salle in back-to-back games, the Lady Bulldogs won three in a row capped by a 25-21, 25-14, 25-23 victory over the Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws on Sunday at Philsports Arena.
Solomon, who scored a game-high 18 points on a 17-of-28 attacking clip, said the Holy Week break helped them get their act together.
“[During] Holy Week, we [used it] to refresh. We didn’t think of volleyball at all. Our coaches said it’s okay not to think of volleyball for two days,” said Solomon in Filipino. “After that, it felt good. Our minds were refreshed.”
Robles, who finished with four points off the bench, agreed with her teammate, crediting coach Karl Dimaculanga, who has not been attending the post-game interview for the past three games.
“We’re thankful to our coaches because we struggled in the first round due to fatigue physically and mentally. They find a way to bring us back to the system. We’re happy because we’ve been getting good results through the hard work of players and coaches,” she said in Filipino.
NU forced a three-way tie at 8-3 with University of Santo Tomas and Adamson with La Salle being the first team to clinch a Final Four berth this season.
Solomon said they will take their remaining matches one at a time as they aim to secure a twice-to-beat advantage in the semis.
“All our remaining games are important. We have to apply our training every game,” said the reigning Best Opposite Spiker. “Our coaches said that we have to be consistent in practice because if you won’t do it in practice, you won’t be consistent in games.”
NU battles the also-ran University of the East (0-11) on Saturday at Mall of Asia Arena with Robles reminding her teammates to take care of business.
“As coach Karl said, we’re gonna take it one game at a time whoever we face. UE is a gritty team so we have to prepare for them,” she said.