Do-or-die fitting finale to La Salle-Ateneo duel
After bungling a golden opportunity to wrap up a fourth consecutive title, De La Salle Lady Spikers try to regroup and sharpen their arrows for Saturday’s winner-take-all for UAAP Season 76 women’s volleybal2l crown against a tenacious Ateneo Lady Eagles.
The fancied Lady Spikers were pushed to the limit by a never-surrender Lady Eagles, who showed grit in clawing back from an 8-12 deficit in the deciding fifth set to prevail, 25-21, 25-23, 18-25, 16-25, 17-15, and set the stage for one final reckoning.
This will be the first time in the UAAP for a top-seeded team that swept the elims and enjoyed thrice-to-beat advantage in the finals to be forced to the full route by a lower-seeded finals opponent. Ateneo had won the first game of the series, 17-25, 25-23, 25-13, 25-20, halting DLSU’s 30-game win streak, but the three-peat champs got back with a 25-14, 25-20, 19-25, 26-24 victory.
“Meron pa namang Saturday game, so doon na lang talaga. Do or die na talaga ‘yun (There’s still one more chance to clinch the title on Saturday. It’s a real do-or-die for us),” DLSU coach Ramil de Jesus said in an interview by ABS-CBNNews.com.
Needing just one more triumph to secure a rare four-peat last Wednesday, La Salle started like a house divided and allowed the upsetconscious Ateneo to grab a two-set cushion but checked its skid and caught fire in the next two frames.
Momentum on their side, the Lady Spikers seized control in the deciding fifth and got to within three points off the crown. The celebration, however, proved premature as the Lady Eagles spoiled the party and beat the Lady Spikers to the finish with back-to-back hits by captain Alyssa Valdez and super rookie Michelle Morente and a costly violation called on La Salle setter Kim Fajardo doing the job.
“Medyo malamig nung umpisa, saka nawalan din ng focus ‘yung mga bata ng first and second set. Nakabalik naman noong third set and fourth set, pero pag five sets kasi, it’s a matter of breaks. Ayun eh, mas kinapitan ang Ateneo (We had a slow start and the girls lost their focus in the first two sets. They were able to come back in the third and fourth. But the fifth set was a matter of breaks and it went Ateneo’s way),” de Jesus said.
As to the call that sealed DLSU’s doom, de Jesus said: “Talagang ganoon. Dumarating sa bawat situation na dumarating ‘yung ganyan eh, so kailangan tanggapin (Things like these happen so we have to accept them).”
Ateneo believes it was their “heart” that pulled them through.
“Lagi na lang sinasabi ni coach, puso ang nagpanalo. Nakita niyo, 12-8 ang score, so talagang sinisigaw na ng La Salle ‘four-peat’ pero sila naman, lagi niyang sinasabi, believe, believe, heart. Kaya yun ang naging resulta (Our coach Anusorn Bundit always says it’s heart that will win it for us. La Salle went up 12-8 and they were already shouting ‘four-peat.’ But coach is telling the girls believe, show heart. And you can see the result),” said AdMU team manager Tony Boy Liao.
Valdez said teamwork offset the Lady Eagles’ lack of championship experience, which showed when they dropped the third and fourth after a sizzling start.
“Yung experience ng La Salle sa finals sobrang mas mataas kesa sa amin (La Salle has the edge in playing in the finals),” said Valdez, one of the few remnants of the 2013 team.
“So for me, La Salle will come back tough anytime because they’re an experienced team. For us, medyo nag- adjust din kami kasi (we had to adjust more and) we didn’t expect we’d be two sets up so medyo parang na- rattle kami dun (we were uite rattled holding the lead). Pero in the end, we played as a team, we played solid team game,” she added.