Lady Maroons’ fight came too late, rues coach

University of the Philippines’ first set alone was enough for head coach Godfrey Okumu to describe what his team went through against Adamson U in the UAAP Season 80 women’s volleyball tournament.

The Lady Maroons got flat out embarrassed in the first set en route to a 25-9, 27-25, 25-20 blanking from the Lady Falcons Wednesday at Filoil Flying V Centre.

“We did not start well, that’s why the results were not good, we should’ve played better in the first set,” said Okumu as his team slipped to its second straight loss after an opening game win. “We were able to recover in the second and third set but it was a little too late.”

The Lady Falcons used the Lady Maroons as moving targets in the first set where they unloaded eight of their total 17 service aces.

“The first set was really a big deal for me as a coach because that’s how the game started. If you start well, you will play well all throughout,” said Okumu, who is on his first year with UP.

“If you start in a shaky way, the way we were shaking with our passing, that’s how we get the results.”

UP’s inconsistent first ball limited the Lady Maroons to just 26 points off spikes, almost half of Adamson’s 40.

Okumu, despite witnessing his team’s poor performance, is still confident that UP will bounce back in the next games.

“I’ve said this before, we will fight back. We are coming back.”