Work of heart
Shevana Laput wanted to show La Salle’s heart in the quickest way possible.
The Lady Spikers let the third set slide a bit, but she’ll take it.
“[W]e want to win all our matches in three sets, and we knew that we had the capability to finish that set [at] 25 points,” said the tall opposite spiker on Sunday. “We just needed to show the La Sallian puso (heart) right there and then.”
Laput unleashed 21 points on 17 kills and four blocks as La Salle stayed unbeaten in UAAP Season 88 women’s volleyball action, this time flattening University of Santo Tomas, 25-14, 25-15, 26-24, in front of 15,350 fans at Mall of Asia Arena.
La Salle looked headed for a cruise, toying with UST in the first two sets, before encountering a stiff challenge from the Tigresses, who suddenly find their groove behind sparkplug Xyza Gula.
Gula had UST sitting on set point before Laput, the new La Salle captain, took matters into her own hands and nailed two huge blocks on the Tigresses’ hitter.
She then showed her touch with a game-winning drop that sealed a second straight victory.
Team effort
The Filipino Australian hitter, who was also La Salle’s leading scorer with 23 in a straight-set win over Far Eastern University last week, attributed their perfect start to their team effort, as Canino had 13 points, while Shane Reterta and Amie Provido added seven each.
Rookie setter Eshana Nunag shone anew with 16 excellent sets and three points.
“This is very much team effort right now,” she said. “Even though I had 21 points, everyone got those 21 points together; we got it as a team. Whatever that score was on the board, we did it together as a team because we wanted to win, we wanted to beat UST.”
That desire sent the season host, which declared its championship aspirations before the tournament started, to a 0-2 start.
“A strong team like UST pushes us to be our best. At the end of the day, we are our best opponent; we played better because we wanted to play better,” Laput said.
La Salle deputy coach Noel Orcullo praised Laput for fully embracing her bigger responsibility as skipper of the Lady Spikers, who have beaten the Tigresses for the third straight time since last year.
“We saw in the beginning that she struggled a bit in training after it was announced she would be the captain,” Orcullo said. “She was overthinking it. We told her, “Shevana, that mark on your chest is just a symbol. You don’t have to carry the whole team on your own—you have a lot of people helping you.”
Maroons triumph
Laput now shifts her attention to the University of the Philippines, which also has a 2-0 record. The Lady Spikers and the Maroons clash on Wednesday.
“Definitely, as a senior, having that heartbreak that we’ve had in the past two seasons, we definitely want to come into this season and [bounce back] and finally capture what we believe is truly ours,” said Laput.
UP won its second straight win the hard way, with Niña Ytang finally ending years of futility against a neighboring school.
Since first suiting up for the Maroons, Ytang hasn’t seen her team win against Ateneo. And on Sunday, the Blue Eagles were two sets up and on the verge of extending that dominance in a rivalry popularly known as the “Battle of Katipunan.”
This time, Ytang willed the Maroons to a come-from-behind 17-25, 19-25, 25-22, 25-23, 16-14 victory to set up that clash of unbeaten squads against La Salle.
“We just have to keep reminding ourselves how badly we want it. We always manifest that it’s time to bring the crown to the other side of Katipunan,” said Ytang in Filipino.
The graduating middle blocker led the comeback win with 15 points off 11 kills and four blocks to book UP’s first win against Ateneo since the first round of Season 80 in 2018.
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