Adamson University was the first to show in UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament that defending champion National University is not untouchable.
The Lady Falcons dragged the Lady Bulldogs to five sets before eventually running out of gas, 22-25, 19-25, 27-25, 25-22, 10-15, last March 1.
To put things into perspective, National U never played a five-setter in Season 84 where it swept the tournament 16-0 for the championship.
The Lady Bulldogs then lost three of their next eight matches, one to University of Santo Tomas and two to De La Salle University.
And that’s why National U prepared well for Adamson this second round, cruising to a straight sets win in 88 minutes, 26-24, 25-16, 25-22, Wednesday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
“Siguro po meron ding (extra motivation) kasi yun nga po dikit yung laban namin nung first round and kamuntikan pa po kaming matalo non so sinabi namin ngayon dapat yung win namin talagang maganda, talagang masasabi mong panalo po kami,” said Lady Bulldog Mhicaela Belen, who tallied 20 points and 11 excellent receptions.
“Isa rin po siya sa naging motivation namin na ayusin namin yung laro namin ngayon para makabawi kami nung first round.”
And to beat the Lady Falcons in three sets, it was a sight to see for NU, which used the Holy Week break to zone in on Adamson.
Adamson is one of the contenders in the eight-team field with identical 7-3 win-loss cards along with the Lady Bulldogs and the Golden Tigresses.
“Malaking boost siya sa confidence namin kasi yun nga yung Adamson po mahirap sila kalaban eh kasi madepensa po sila, malinis sila gumalaw and happy kami na nanalo po kami this game kasi alam namin sa sarili namin na pinagtrabahuhan namin yung game na yun and hindi kami nagpabaya,” added the reigning MVP.
“After [ng Holy Week break namin] pinaghandaan na po namin talaga yung Adamson, pinagaralan namin sila, hinimay-himay namin kung paano sila gumalaw para alam namin kung ano yung dapat naming iperform this game and happy naman kami na naapply namin yung mga sinabi nila coach like kung ano yung ginagawa nila in this scenario kaya nakakasagot kami, may balik kami kada situation,” she continued as NU had answers to every Lady Falcons run in the match.
After shaky games that saw them lose three outings, Belen shared that this might be their best performance this season.
But she also knows that they are still far from their peak which led them to the title last edition.
“Yes I think ito po yung parang pinakamalinis since round one,” said the 5-foot-7 outside spiker.
“Syempre po kami po hindi po kami nakukuntento dapat kahit nanalo po kami, dapat tumingin pa rin po kami sa brighter side na meron pa kami kayang iimprove like yung errors namin kaya pa namin siya iminimize and yung consistency talaga namin,” she added.
“I think nasa amin na yun kung paano namin didisiplinahin yung sarili namin.”
The Lady Bulldogs, despite the quick win, still committed 23 errors compared to the Lady Falcons’ 15.
