With their recent hard-fought win over UP, the Ateneo Lady Eagles are now 5-0 in this season’s volleyball tournament. Alyssa Valdez gave media her thoughts on how her team played during the game, their back-to-back games this weekend, as well as their experience in Indonesia.
The match against UP was the most difficult that the Lady Eagles had to experience so far this season. After going through four matches without dropping a set, the Fighting Maroons lived up to their name, pushing Ateneo to the brink in five sets. This was also Ateneo’s first match in the UAAP in a month.
“Siguro we missed the feeling playing in the UAAP. It’s been a month na eh. Siguro nagkulang lang kami sa feeling na naglalaro sa arena. Siguro out of focus din.”
“We’re thankful that we won this game, kahit most of us off talaga yung game. Hindi rin naman namin macontrol yung lahat talaga. Sabi nga ni Coach Tai minsan may luck talaga, minsan malas talaga. Pero we’re really thankful that we won this game.”
Alyssa also commended UP’s brilliant play, admitting that it caught Ateneo off-guard, especially on the defensive end.
“Siyempre UP played really well today, yung defense sobrang tiyaga nila, sobrang sipag nila. Di namamatay yung bola. UP played really well so hindi kami maka-adjust kaagad.”
Despite their perfect start to the season, Alyssa still believes that there are areas the team can still improve on. She hopes that the game against UP will serve as motivation for the team to be more consistent.
“Well every game naman definitely may nakikitang errors na kelangan i-improve pa, as a team, as a player. Definitely this game will be one of the most memorable and pinakatatatak talaga kasi kakabalik lang namin from the break tapos ganito pinakita naming performance. Hopefully as a team mas i-push namin ang sarili namin kasi hindi pa naman halfway eh.”
Alyssa also talked about the team’s experience in Indonesia. She hopes that the international tournament will help the team overcome the challenges to come.
“It was really a great experience talaga playing in Indonesia. Siguro nagulat lang kami sa laro ng teams dun. Sana may natutunan kami. Sana talaga. Siyempre dun everyday yung game, yung players kelangan maka-recover kaagad.”
This weekend, they are in for a tough ride, having to play back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday.
“We’re hoping for the best. Hindi namin alam kung bakit ganun yung schedule, siguro dahil sa Indonesia. But then yun yung binigay sa amin so we have to face the challenge. We should push ourselves more para mas maganda yung maging performance namin.”
“We’re focusing muna on UE, siyempre it’s hard kasi we’re preparing for two games in a week. Siguro si Coach Tai mababalance yun for us. We’re preparing for UE and La Salle this week… and school, lahat ng namiss namin sa school for two weeks.”
