By: Ohmer Bautista
As she’s been the heart and soul of the Adamson University Women’s Volleyball Program for the past five years, moving on from Jema Galanza is not an easy thing to do for the Lady Falcons.
On top of that, they also lost significant cogs in middle blocker Mylene Paat and grizzled setter Fhem Emnas, making it seem like a whole new team for Lady Falcons head coach Airess Padda.
“Coming off the last season without Mylene, without Jema, and Fhem. This really feels like a new team,” the third-year head coach asnitted. “A lot of new kids meshed with old kids. Its like I’m teaching it all over again.
“This system that we’ve created two years ago, it’s like I have to start all over again.”
From aspiring contenders just a few months ago, the Lady Falcons are back to where they started. But they have to start somewhere.
Saturday afternoon, they were able to see where they are and what they need to do when they went up against the Perpetual Lady Altas.
Despite coming out on top, Padda pointed out their lack of consistency, which has been an elephant in the room for the Lady Falcons for the past couple of months.
“We’re really inconsistent. That worries me a little bit,” the American tactician confessed. “One of the biggest problems for the last three months we’ve been training is that we’re really, really incosistent.
“We have to play consistent.”
Eli Soyud also echoed her sentiments, citing that the team is still far from their hundred percent.
“‘Di ako satisfied sa naging game namin,” the 22-year-old lamented after posting a game-high 17 points, built on 10 spikes, four blocks, and three aces.
“‘Yung game namin ‘di pa gan’un ka-buo.”
As one of the remaining veteran players in their youthful roster, the grizzled outside-hitter chimed in on what has to be done in order to improve their performance.
“For me, i-accept lang ng bawat isa ‘yung role nila sa team para makatulong sa team at mag-step up,” shared Soyud, who transferred from La Salle two years ago.
For her part, Soyud is more than willing to accept the role of leading the way for her young teammates — reminiscent of what Galanza did to the young guns during her time in the Falcons’ nest.
“For me, accept ko lang lahat ng challenges na binibigay sa’kin at i-push ko pa ‘yung sarili ko to work harder para sa team at para sa mga bata.”
