QUEST FOR PERFECTION
Being on top doesn’t mean that National University (NU) has had it easy.
And despite being perfect close to a month into Season 87 of the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament, the Lady Bulldogs are willing to face all the coming challenges head-on so that they remain that way.
“We need to be consistent and not be complacent,” star Bulldog Bella Belen said after dropping 17 points in leading National U to a fifth straight win, a 25-13, 25-23, 25-22 thumping of University of the Philippines on Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena.
Belen knows that a target’s been on their collective backs since opening day, and that successfully defending their crown would need the team’s best each game.
“We need to be more on point in our movements, because almost all of the teams are looking and studying for ways to beat us,” Belen said. “So the challenge for us is to see what else we can improve on moving forward.”
Meanwhile, University of Santo Tomas scored its first straight sets victory of the season, a 25-20, 25-23, 25-21 ripping of Ateneo, to stay hot on the heels of the Bulldogs.
Angge Poyos and Regina Jurado paced the Tigresses to matching NU’s winning streak for a 5-1 mark, finishing with 19 and 14 points, respectively. Pia Abbu chipped in with a career-best 13 points.
Cassie Carballo tossed 17 excellent sets to help the Tigresses
Counting its last three victories from its title run last season with mentor Norman Miguel, National U is now on an eight-game winning run. New coach Sherwin Meneses, though, would rather not dwell on this streak.
He knows the job is far from being done.
“Every training, we focus [on not being complacent],” Meneses said in Filipino. “It’s not about the streak, how many consecutive wins we have—it’s about how much more we can improve to keep on winning.
Two wins from sweep
“That’s where our focus is—not the winning streak.”
The Bulldogs are now just two wins away from sweeping the first round, with Adamson and last year’s losing finalist, University of Santo Tomas, the last two teams with chances of preventing that.
Alyssa Solomon is also very aware of this.
“All the teams are chasing us, they want to beat us,” Solomon, who is entertaining thoughts of playing professionally in South Korea after ending her career with National U, said after chipping in with 16 points. “That’s why we will give our best every game.”
Tournament format calls for a team that completes a sweep to make it to the title series outright and leave the next three teams after the double-round elimination to fight it out for the No. 2 spot in a stepladder series.
“No one wants to go through the stepladder,” Belen said. “The biggest challenge [for us] is how to be consistent, because it’s still a long season, and a lot of games will still be played and a lot more can still happen.
“We need to find a way to be better after every game.”
