Bella Belen and the NU Lady Bulldogs in the 2024 Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Pre-season Championship. –AUGUST DELA CRUZ/INQUIRER
MANILA, Philippines — National University is a win away from sweeping the 2024 Shakey’s Super League season with its new Grand Slam champion coach in the pros, Sherwin Meneses.
For Meneses, who has done it in the previous PVL season with the Creamline Cool Smashers, winning Game 1 shouldn’t stop the Lady Bulldogs from staying hungry to complete a ‘three-peat’ and win its second title this season to pair with their National Invitationals supremacy.
“Of course, they’re (Lady Bulld0gs) champions, so there’s still improvement that we can carry over to the UAAP because every team wants to face them and beat them,” the new NU coach told reporters.
READ: NU turns back La Salle in Game 1, nears Shakey’s Super League 3-peat
“Improvement is something I always tell them. The team’s progress doesn’t end with the championship. Players and coaches are always working together.”
Bouncing back from their elimination round loss, NU dominated the first two sets but needed to overcome a tough third set challenge by La Salle before eking out a 25-16, 25-12, 27-25 triumph in Game 1 of the best-of-three title series on Friday at Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
NU Lady Bulldogs’ Alyssa Solomon in the 2024 Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Pre-season Championship. –AUGUST DELA CRUZ/INQUIRER
Moments after their match, Meneses traveled to Candon, Ilocos Sur for Creamline’s Saturday’s game. After his PVL game, he will go back to Manila right away for SSL Game 2 on Sunday evening.
With a win away from his first championship with NU, Meneses is just honored to coach such talented players, who won two of the last three UAAP seasons and three SSL tournaments.
READ: Shakey’s Super League: Bulldogs, Lady Spikers renew bitter feud for preseason crown
“NU is a champion team, so they won’t just give up easily. The players are true winners and they really won’t let themselves lose,” Meneses said.
Alyssa Solomon, who led NU with 14 points, though, admitted they played lethargic in the third.
“Of course, they’ll bounce back; they won’t just accept losing. We’ll be ready for them and make sure we’re better than what we showed today,” said Solomon.
Bella Belen also knows that no win or championship should stop them from striving for more.
“I’m very excited to see what more our team can show on Sunday, and I believe we can surpass how we played today because the team’s capabilities are high. We haven’t stopped improving from what we already have,” said Belen, who had 10 points. “Our hunger to learn from Coach Sherwin and the things he brings to the team is something we are gradually adapting and applying in training and in games.”
“I feel like there are still things we need to improve because there’s Game 2 left, so we’ll train tomorrow and figure out what lapses we still need to work on,” she said.