THE MASTER PLANNER
When Tina Salak was first handed the keys to the Far Eastern University (FEU) women’s volleyball program two seasons ago, she made sure about one thing: The program could have anybody at the wheel, but the direction would always be consistent, courtesy of a manual she crafted.
“It’s so that the program has continuity without sacrificing anything or making the young ones worried after I left,” Salak said.
The idea worked.
When she left the program in the hands of Manolo Refugia in UAAP Season 86, the Lady Tamaraws remained consistent and fought their way to the Final Four for the first time in six seasons.
In Salak’s return, FEU is back in the semifinals.
“I’ve been very honest to the coaches and fans so that we are aligned,” Salak told the Inquirer in Filipino after FEU stunned La Salle, 25-20, 28-26, 20-25, 25-23, Saturday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“Because it will be difficult if they [see things differently].”
FEU has been so consistent, the team seems like it is caught in a reboot of last season. Once again, the Lady Tamaraws have nine wins after 14 preliminary round games. Once again, their semifinal bid will go through the fearsome National U Lady Bulldogs. And once again, FEU will need to beat NU twice to advance to the Finals.
The Lady Tamaraws almost pulled dit off last season.
They forced the Lady Bulldogs to fish out their twice-to-beat card after a shock win in the first game of their Final Four encounter.
“Both of our team compositions are still intact, basically the same lineup from last year. I think NU has an advantage only because of their experience as a champion team,” Salak said.
“But for us, we’re hungry. That’s what I am trying to draw from the team because this already happened last year and I don’t want it to be a deja vu this time,” she added.
After surprising a lot of people by sweeping their elimination matchup against University of Santo Tomas and getting their revenge on the Lady Spikers, who blanked them in the first round, the Lady Tamaraws feel their chances of a Final Four upset are high.
“I don’t know if the young ones are feeling … more excited or having fear,” Salak said. “So we need to balance their emotions. But I don’t want us to think that [just because] we finished fourth last year, we will end up fourth again this season.”
“We need to surpass that [finish].”
“We’re not stopping. We’re going straight ahead … we have a different experience that we got from the games before, [especially our] losses,” Salak said. “Those are our what-ifs, we are drawing from those losses like ‘We saw this before already and we don’t want to feel this again.’
“We are drawing from that so that we can return to right now and get back against [those] who [beat us before].”
