Making the UAAP Women’s Volleyball Finals for the first time in nearly 10 years, the Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws were visibly nervous. The Tamaraws were clashing with a La Salle team that has made the Finals for 10 straight seasons.
And their nerves and inexperience manifested in their whopping 34 errors that ultimately cost them Game One of the series.
First-year FEU head coach George Pascua rued their giveaways, citing that the match would have been much closer had they played efficiently.
“Unfortunately, ‘yung erros namin, ‘yun ang marami kaya nanalo sila sa amin,” lamented Pascua, who is a legend in FEU. “Sabi ko nga sa players ko, ‘Hindi ako nate-threaten kung sinumang kalaban ninyo, mas nate-threaten ako kapag nag-errors kayo nang sobra-sobra.’
“If you serve, pag nag-commit ka ng error, hindi kasalanan ng receiver or what. Yung individual character or errors, yun ang nagpatalo sa amin.”
While the loss was a tough to swallow, Pascua is still optimistic since he saw their errors as manageable. He pointed out that FEU teams of the past have been down 0-1 in the Finals and still came away with a title.
“‘Yung experience na nakuha namin sa nangyari ngayon, plus lessen ng errors, walang imposible. Hindi kami hihinto hangga’t hindi natatapos ang laban, so back to drawing board ulit kami,” Pascua reflected. “Posible kasi nangyari na sa men’s yun dati, nung ako pa yung coach against UP. Game 1 talo na kami, Game 2, Game 3 nakuha namin. Same din sa babae, nakuha ng Adamson ng Game 1, tapos [2 and 3] nakuha.
“Sana mangyari ulit sa amin, kasi same team naman. Basta kailangan lang magtrabaho lang ulit.”
