A GOAL IN MIND
Defending champion La Salle opens the second half of its elimination round campaign in Season 86 of the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament with one thing in mind: To get better.
Coming off a four-game winning streak that came after its only loss of the season to an unlikely conqueror and tournament leader, the Lady Spikers will be colliding with a Far Eastern University (FEU) side that is clinging on to a Final Four slot and also has the guns to beat the heavyweights here.
That’s why La Salle, even if it won’t admit that it has its eyes trained on University of Santo Tomas (UST) for dealing the Lady Spikers their only loss, is dead-set on peaking before the return match with the Golden Tigresses takes place.
“We need to get rid of our lapses here in the second round,” top La Salle gun Angel Canino said as they battle the Lady Tamaraws in the 4 p.m. contest at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao. “We know it won’t be easy, but we need to work on that because from here on, every game counts.”
La Salle will be coming off a four-set victory over National University and Bella Belen and is favored over Far Eastern. The Lady Spikers pulled out a 25-20, 25-17, 25-22 win over the Lady Tamaraws in their first meeting last month.
But for coach Noel Orcullo, there’s no room for complacency.“This second round, we have to double our work to address all the weaknesses that we saw (in the first round),” he said. Still the leader
Adamson and University of the East, meanwhile, try to fan the fading flames of their hopes of playing past the eliminations when they clash in the 2 p.m. game.
The Tigresses are sitting atop the standings with an 8-0 record, while the Lady Bulldogs are tugging at the coattails of the Lady Spikers at 6-2, making every game crucial as far as the ranking in the Final Four is concerned.
Santo Tomas has ran roughshod on everyone in the first round and survived a scare from Ateneo on Wednesday. That unbeaten mark will be put on the line again Sunday when the Tigresses and the Lady Bulldogs square off as National U tries to prune the gap before the league takes a break for the Lenten season.
The Lady Spikers are hardly showing signs of missing two vital cogs of last year’s championship run, as Canino has kept playing solid with Shevana Laput, Alleiah Malaluan, Thea Gagate and Em Provido also holding the fort.
Playmaker Julia Coronel and libero Lyka de Leon, who took over the spots left by Mars Alba and Justine Jazareno, respectively, have played well in the first round.
Coronel is the league’s third-best setter behind UST’s Cassie Carballo and FEU’s Tin Ubaldo, and also ranked third in serving. De Leon, for her part, currently ranks second in receiving behind Det Pepito of the Tigresses.
The Lady Tamaraws hope to beat a top-three team for the first time this season. INQ
