The University of the Philippines Lady Maroons were on track for a straight-sets win over the University of the East Lady Warriors in their opening match of UAAP Season 80.
But the Diliman-based spikers stumbled hard in the next two sets. UP’s reception crumbled and opened opportunities for UE to storm back. UP’s poor passing resulted in a faulty offense, which leaked 46 errors, more than half of UE’s 90 total points.
UP’s new head coach Godfrey Okum rued his team’s miscues, but was glad that they recovered in the fifth set. He knows his squad is capable of better games.
“We didn’t pass well. I kept on insisting on passing, that’s my philosophy. In volleyball, if you don’t pass, it’s hard, it’s very hard. So we have to work on our passing. That’s the only thing I insisted. Also, defense. If you pass well, you execute. If you defend well, you score points,” pointed out the Kenyan tactician.
“They (UE) played well. We put them under pressure the first two sets, and we relaxed, and we thought that we had won the game. You saw in the fifth set, we started fighting back, our defense came back, as you saw, our normal defense.
“But it’s just another day in the office. Sometimes that’s how things goes. You expect to win 3-0, but we won 3-2. It’s still a good win, it’s a good start for my team and I’m very happy. I’m proud of the way my team played tonight,” he furthered.
The Lady Maroons have a daunting task in their next game, as they take on defending champions De La Salle University Lady Spikers on Saturday at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
Okumu hopes his team can shore up their passing to repeat their surprise win against the Lady Spikers in the first round last year.
“The challenge against La Salle, they have good service as well, so we just have to work on our passing and defense,” he shared.
“But I respect their volleyball, they play good volleyball, but like them we are expecting good results from our next match.”
