De Leon: Ateneo will bounce back in Game 2

The Ateneo Lady Eagles celebrate a point in Game 1 of the UAAP Season 79 women’s volleyball Finals against the La Salle Lady Spikers on Tuesday, May 2, 2017, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. INQUIRER PHOTO/AUGUST DELA CRUZ

Despite dropping Game 1 of the UAAP Season 79 women’s volleyball Finals to La Salle, Ateneo’s Bea de Leon believes hope is still not lost on the Lady Eagles on Tuesday.

“It’s not the worst possible time because we didn’t lose the championship,” de Leon said. “The mantra of this team is ‘Heart strong’ and we’ll live up to that name. It’s not over. It’s Game 1 of a best-of-three. On Saturday, we’ll meet again and we’ll get there.”

Ateneo suffered its first defeat to its archrival this season, absorbing a in a four-set loss, 21-25, 29-27, 25-22, 25-20, in the championship opener.

De Leon admitted that the Lady Eagles have nothing to blame but themselves after playing poorly on the defensive end that ultimately cost them the crucial game.

“The defense was a bit shaky. If you guys would notice, I actually didn’t get a lot of sets and the receives also. Defense in totality for us was low today, hence the lesser outcome in attack,” she said.

It reflected on the stat sheets as La Salle had better floor defense that limited Ateneo to just 38 spikes.

De Leon didn’t want to dwell on the loss as she remained confident heading into Game 2.

“We’re a bit down but we’re still hopeful,” she said. “It’s not over, it’s just Game 1. We know we can do it with our past games with La Salle so definitely, we’ll come back to training tomorrow, work a lot harder, and on Saturday, we’ll bounce back.”