UST’s Eya Laure (8) and Imee Hernandez during a second-round game against NU in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament. UAAP PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—With their chance of claiming a twice-to-beat incentive already bleak, Eya Laure and the University of Santo Tomas Tigresses are shifting their focus on the Final Four round, regardless of who they end up facing.
UST couldn’t sustain its momentum from a four-game winning streak and failed to assert its mastery over National University, which inched a win closer to sealing the No. 2 seed with a vengeful 25-16, 25-21, 17-25, 25-14 victory on Wednesday at FilOil EcoOil Centre
Tigresses coach KungFu Reyes urged his wards not to cry over spilled milk and bounce back in their final elimination round game against University of the Philippines on Sunday at the same venue.
“Wala na sa kamay namin. Pero kung magko-concentrate pa kami doon, excess baggage lang. Ang importante lang maka-recover kami sa Sunday game. Then, let’s see. We will cross the bridge when we get there,” said Reyes after the loss. “Pero kung mangyayari yun (twice-to-beat) pero mas malabo pa sa sabaw ng pusit yung ganung bagay.”
(It’s no longer in our hands. If we will concentrate on the twice-to-beat, it will just be excess baggage. What’s important is we recover on Sunday and then, let’s see. We will cross the bridge when we get there. But it’s already unlikely to happen.)
Laure said they will continue to follow their coach’s lead as she also encouraged her teammates after losing to NU that they have to go back to the drawing board and triple their efforts.
“Whatever coach will say, we will prepare for it and whatever system he wants us to apply in the game, we will stick to it. Nobody will give up,” said Laure, the Tigresses’ leading scorer in Filipino. “I told my teammates during our huddle after the game that NU wanted it more and they worked hard for it right from the start.”
“Starting tomorrow, we will work again at practice and triple the effort. We have to learn from this game and all of them agreed that we learned something from this loss,” she added after UST (9-4) fell into a tie with Adamson.
NU, which holds a 10-3 card, only needs to beat also-ran Ateneo on Saturday to seal the second seed and the last twice-to-beat berth.
If the Tigresses and Lady Falcons ended up tied at 10-4, Adamson takes the No. 3 spot due to superior quotient, while UST arranges a date with No. 1 La Salle.
Reyes said that they have to be prepared for whichever team awaits them in the Final Four.
“What’s important now is whoever we face in the Final Four, we need to be well-prepared,” the UST coach said in Filipino. “All the teams are beatable and anything can happen.”
“This time, we have another chance to dictate and write another history for our team. That’s where we will concentrate. Whoever we face, we just have to be ready because we know what our players are capable of,” he added.