Kathy Bersola has admittedly had a sub-par season. In several big matches, the graduating Sports Science major struggled mightily, and has even had to ride the bench on some occasions.
But when the University of the Philippines needed her most, the 5-foot-10 middle blocker delivered.
Facing an National University team with six-foot-five wrecking machine Jaja Santiago, the 22-year-old Lady Maroon found her groove in one of the most crucial matches of the season.
Bersola tallied 14 points, including eight blocks, in UP’s four-set win over the Lady Bulldogs, which keeps them in the thick of the Final Four race. While most of her blocks came off Santiago’s attacks, Bersola insisted that stopping the league’s best scorer came down to team effort.
“Hindi lang naman si Jaja ‘yung pinag-aralan namin, hindi lang naman siya,” said Bersola.
“Naging confident ako kasi confident ‘yung teammates ko.”
To Bersola’s point, Santiago was limited 10 attack points thanks to UP’s solid serving game, which limited the NU tower’s looks.
UP looked like a cohesive unit while under pressure for the first time since their early four-game winning streak.
For the Lady Maroons to make the Final Four, they will need Bersola to have more outings like this.
“May games talaga this season na medyo nagis-struggle ako. Maganda na sana ganitong game nakapaglakita ako. Malaking bagay din ‘yung mga teammates ko na sa kamasama ko sa loob ng court,” Bersola shared.
At 7-5, UP need to win their last two matches against the Far Eastern University and University of Santo Tomas to solidify their hold on a Final Four seed.
“Malaking bagay ‘yung panalo na ‘to just for the confidence of the team as a whole,” the resident of Makati said.
“Hopefully, we can continue this. We’ll just keep working hard lang kasi crucial na lahat ng matches namin moving forward.”
