WANTING TO BE BETTER
While winning a fifth straight match is a premium for La Salle to stay alone at the top of Season 88 of the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament, the Lady Spikers will spend a chunk of their match against lowly University of the East on Saturday to improve on the weaker aspects of their game.
Game time is at 1 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum and the Lady Spikers are heavily favored to run roughshod over the Lady Red Warriors as they prepare for two tough games to complete their first round schedule.
“We want to improve our service game,” assistant coach Noel Orcullo said. “We have been very particular about that every practice. We keep telling our players that if we get points (off our serves), then we give our spikers some sort of rest.”
And the La Salle coaching staff is deadset on improving on that, even if the Lady Spikers are the second-best serving team in the league.
After facing UE, La Salle will take on the Shai Nitura-led Adamson University on Wednesday before ending the first round with a Finals rematch against National U on March 15.
Contributions all around
Angel Canino, who has stepped up as the team’s top-option scorer in the absence of Shevana Laput in the last two matches, is pleased with the collective contribution in the Lady Spikers’ perfect run.
That’s because she is getting the support she needs.
“I really am not expecting that I would need to do it all,” Canino said in Filipino. “We have a lot of veterans and young players who are all willing to step up; that’s why I feel that I can really depend on them to contribute.
“There’s really no pressure (on my part),” Canino went on. “We all work hard and we trust the work that we put in. I also admire the courage that the young players are playing with.”
Meanwhile, after a rough start, the University of Santo Tomas has steadied its campaign and is now within the top-four range.
The Golden Tigresses, though, will be battling another title contender in Nitura and the Lady Falcons in the 3 p.m. main game, with Santo Tomas seeking to win a third straight game and move above 0.500 for the first time after opening with back-to-back losses.
Rough patch
“Our remaining games (in the first round) will be very important,” Santo Tomas coach Shaq delos Santos said in Filipino. “We really went through a rough patch (with a 0-2 start), that’s why we need to work harder to erase all that.
“The only good thing about those two (early) losses was that it tested the abilities of this team,” he went on. “Those losses have allowed us to identify the mistakes and flaws in this team and hopefully, we would be able to address all of them.”
Angge Poyos has been sensational in UST’s last two wins, while setter Cassie Carballo and libero Detdet Pepito are gradually regaining their old forms.
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