FAR FROM PERFECT
Those two wins University of Santo Tomas (UST) hammered out over the past week proved crucial for the school’s run in the UAAP Season 86 volleyball tournament—both in the men’s and women’s division.
For rookie Angeline Poyos, however, there is much to work on now that the Tigresses have put the target on their backs by sweeping the first round of the preliminaries in the women’s stint.
“I know that we need to work on a lot of things and we need to make a lot of adjustments in the next games; we can’t relax because there’s still the second round,” said Poyos, who was named Player of the Week by the varsity beat writers along with Tigers star Josh Ybañez.
Much of the adjustments will be made close to the net, where the Tigresses have quite a lot of work to do.
In wrapping up the first round with a 7-0 (win-loss) card, UST needed to fight back from an early deficit in the fourth set and then go through a wringer there before cementing a 25-18, 25-22, 15-25, 28-26 win over Adamson last Saturday.
The Lady Falcons came alive the same way most teams found a little success against the Tigresses: By hammering their net defense.
University of the Philippines did the same thing, making UST work hard for its 25-22, 25-20, 26-24 shutout win last March 13.
“We fell behind with our blocking, but we managed to adjust in every set,’’ said Poyos, who had 22 points against the Maroons.
The Tigresses need their vast repertoire of undersized attackers to finally ground the game Lady Falcons.
“Knowing that … we aren’t that tall, we are using that as motivation to raise [our level] and do better in our next games, Poyos, the former UST high school star, said after the win over Adamson.
But UST will need to brush up on its blocking, especially with the second-running La Salle Lady Spikers (6-1) sounding like they are thirsting for payback against the Tigresses.
No complacency
UST dealt the defending champions their only loss in the tournament so far, and in the four wins that La Salle hammered out since that defeat, the Lady Spikers kept referencing that upset.
Team captain Bernadett Pepito and astute playmaker Cassie Carballo also said the Tigresses still need to clean up their game.
“We can’t be complacent because we could lose [the league lead] once we relax,” said Carballo.
Pepito, who protected the floor with 21 digs and 12 excellent receptions against Adamson, agreed with Carballo, even after the Tigresses forged their best start since 2007.
“We still have a lot to improve and we have a lot of lapses to work on,” she said. “We can’t be complacent with the standings right now because we know that many teams want to get back at us. So we have to triple the effort in training so we will be able to get better results in the second round.”
Poyos averaged 20 points per game during that 2-0 week for the Tigresses. Ybañez averaged 22.5 points in UST’s two outings the past week—also against UP and Adamson—to revitalize the Tigers’ championship hopes that previously hit a snag. The UST men’s squad raised its record to 4-3 to climb to fourth place, and Ybañez said it was more than his efforts that pulled the Tigers from under a .500 card.
“We won as a team,” he said.
“I’m happy because I saw my teammates’ will to win,” he added. INQ
By Inquirer Sports Staff @INQUIRERSports
