Poyos the leader now does more than score for Tigresses
Angge Poyos has put a brilliant rookie season behind and fully knows her new and bigger role for University of Santo Tomas.
“I have a growing responsibility to the team now,” Poyos told a pair of reporters in Filipino after leading the Growling Tigresses to a 25-12, 22-25, 13-25, 25-23, 15-13 escape act over bitter rival La Salle Wednesday night in Season 87 of the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament at Mall of Asia Arena.
The stalwart out of Bohol immediately became the foremost weapon of the Tigresses in her first year and even reset the rookie scoring record after dropping 31 points against Adamson.
That record has since been broken by, interestingly enough, prohibitive Queen Falcon Shaina Nitura, whom Poyos and the Tigresses battle next.
Poyos led Santo Tomas to the Final Four with a 12-2 card, was hailed as the Rookie of the Year after finishing second to National U’s Bella Belen in the MVP derby, before leading the Tigresses in dethroning the Lady Spikers in just one game in the semifinals.
Santo Tomas’ chances in the title series against the Bulldogs, though, took a huge hit in the first game when Poyos limped out with a leg injury. National U ultimately swept the Tigresses.
And with injuries ruling out Jonna Perdido and Xyza Gula for the season, the Tigresses didn’t get off to the best of starts after falling to Far Eastern in four sets.
“In losing (Perdido and Gula) there’s a lot of roles that need to be filled, so as players we really need to step up,” Poyos said. “Especially (myself) in my sophomore year. I need to lead.”
What went wrong
A winning streak has followed with victories over University of the East and La Salle, and Poyos had a huge hand on both.
“Our first game wasn’t that good, but we worked on our lapses,” Poyos said after pouring in 28 points against La Salle. “We have many rookies on our team and haven’t gelled together yet.”
And Poyos knows exactly what went wrong against the Lady Tamaraws, making sure to lead the way the next time.
“In the first game, we didn’t have composure and our communication was lacking, so we patiently worked on it and trusted the system,” she added.
