The University of the Philippines Lady Maroons looked unstoppable until they ran into the Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles.
The lady spikers from Loyola dealt their Katipunan neighbors their first loss of Season 79 in demoralizing fashion last Sunday. Ateneo had UP’s number in just about every category, stifling the Lady Maroons’ offense with their service game while keeping their own attack dynamic.
The resulting straight-sets match caused the Lady Maroons to leave the FilOil Flying V Centre frustrated, questioning their own efforts.
For the Lady Eagles to reach this form, however, it took a decisive message from an unsatisfied Tai Bundit. The Ateneo head coach had to leave for Thailand for two of Ateneo’s games — both wins against the Far Eastern University and Adamson University — to attend to personal matters. In his first game back on the sidelines, a victory over the University of the East Lady Warriors, Bundit was incredibly dismayed at his team’s effort, according to several Lady Eagles.
“Hindi talaga siya naging happy sa pinakita namin. Ang dami naming pagkukulang, especially ako, na na-alarm talaga siya.
“So talagang we prepared really hard against UP immediately after namin manalo against UE,” said open hitter Jhoana Maraguinot, who rebounded from a three point output against UE with 11 points over UP.
“Kasi coach Tai, after we won against UE, he wasn’t satisfied with how we played.
“So the morning after beating UE, nag-training kami agad. As in we worked on our defense, spiking, and service kasi alam namin na we only had three days to prepare for UP and we know that they were such a strong team kasi undefeated sila. Bugbugan kami sa training and super happy kami na it paid off,” said skipper Jia Morado, who orchestrated Ateneo’s offense and had three of her teammates in double-digits.
“We didn’t expect to win in straight sets but we were really just focused on one point at a time.
“Sabi rin ni coach na wala namang problema na walang pressure ‘yung game against UP. Win or lose, as long as we play happy and focused again, that’s all that mattered,” Morado added.
Now on top of the league with a 5-1 slate, Ateneo want to keep this level of confidence while still working towards their elusive peak.
“What we played today, we have to triple it pa. Less errors, more communication, more teamwork pa,” said Morado.
“Makakatulong talaga ‘to sa amin.
“But we know na it doesn’t stop here. There’s still a long way to go in the season and we have to keep working to patch up our weaknesses,” Maraguinot added.
And it all started with coach Tai’s challenge.
