ALL MUDDLED UP
With their backs against the wall and the mighty defending champion on the other end, Adamson University chose to believe, pulling out a stunning upset that jolted the UAAP Season 87 women’s volleyball tournament.
“We know the team’s capability, and that’s what we focused on,” Lady Falcons coach JP Yude said on the heels of his charges’ 25-23, 15-25, 28-26, 25-22 takedown of National University fashioned at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on Sunday.
Rookie-captain Shaina Nitura delivered 32 points—her fourth 30-plus outing of the season—to will her squad past the Lady Bulldogs, who missed ace opposite hitter Alyssa Solomon to a left ankle sprain.
“This is a confidence booster for the team—to believe in ourselves again, that we shouldn’t underestimate ourselves because we still have something to show every game,” said Nitura, her voice crackling as she recalled to reporters the tumultuous past days that tested the team’s faith.
“In our past games, our confidence was going down,” she went on. “We were kind of losing hope, thinking maybe this season isn’t for us. Still, we just kept trusting and persevering because all our hard work will pay off eventually.”
Adamson was ranked seventh coming into the duel against National. But the victory, which was also made possible by the likes of fellow rookie Frances Mordi and Mayang Nuique, propelled the Lady Falcons up a notch at 4-7 and with some hope of making it past the eliminations.
More importantly, the upset pulled the Bulldogs to 9-2 and gave idle La Salle and even two other teams in Far Eastern University (FEU) and University of Santo Tomas (UST) chances to bag spots in the top two with a couple of weeks left in the elimination round.
Tamaraws win thriller
With three games left, the Lady Falcons can continue muddling up the standings. And Yude, just as he told his charges right before the game, maintains that the Lady Falcons can shine in the moment.
“Nothing is impossible. The teams we’ll be facing are strong, but we have to work for it. We need to take care of FEU first,” he said.
Speaking of FEU, the Tamaraws earlier got the goods from Faida Bakanke in a 25-21, 25-16, 14-25, 26-24 triumph over University of the Philippines.
“It’s like watching an action film that suddenly turned into a drama,” said Far Eastern coach Tina Salak in Filipino. “It was so tough for us to [keep] the lead, but I saw the maturity of the players being able to handle being behind by four points.
“I’m happy with how things turned out.”
At 7-4, FEU has again tied UST at No. 3 in the standings. However, the Golden Tigresses, bridesmaids of the last season, have a slight advantage thanks to set ratio.
But both schools still have three games left to play in the elimination round.
“We have nothing to lose. We just hope to make things hard for them, as they’re the ones with something at stake,” Yude went on, referring to their last assignments, the Tamaraws, Lady Spikers and Fighting Maroons. “They are already Final Four contenders.
“We just need to give it our all,” he said. “I fully trust my players because I know they understand our capabilities, and I know they can beat strong teams.”
