Last Wednesday, the National University Lady Bulldogs saw their season and Final Four aspirations end after being sideswiped by the De La Salle Lady Spikers in four sets 25-14, 21-25, 25-19, 25-15, at the Filoil Flying V Centre.
In the losing effort, Jaja Santiago once again led National with 14 points, including 2 kill blocks and 2 service aces, while wing spikers Jorelle Singh and Aiko Urdas chipped in 9 markers apiece.
“Siyempre, nandiyan na iyan eh. Dapat tanggapin na lang namin na we learned our lesson the hard way. Sana naman [talaga] matuto [kami from that], kasi it would be useless kung the same thing will happen again,” NU head coach Roger Gorayeb told reporters after the game.
In contrast, the Lady Bulldogs started their season strong. After they lost their season opener against the Ateneo Lady Eagles, NU managed to win against the likes of Adamson, La Salle and UE to gain momentum during that time.
However, NU’s aggressive slide came to a screeching halt after the team collapsed against the UST Tigresses and the UP Lady Maroons. If NU managed to win both of those games, getting to the Final Four wouldn’t be much of a problem for them. Even though they had a later surge in the second round, those two crucial first round defeats did a lot of damage on the team.
“Kung noong first round, tinalo namin ‘yung UP at UST, walang ganitong mangyayari [dahil] lamang na lamang kami [sa standings],” Gorayeb further elaborated. “Kaya lang, masakit siyempre third [place] kami noong nakaraang season tapos fifth na [lang] ngayon.”
Now, with their season already done, Gorayeb hopes that the team really learned their lesson this season. NU had a lot of games wherein they would start strong but they would see themselves crumble at the end. As Gorayeb points it, every loss has a meaningful lesson in it.
“They have to learn, [at] sabi ko nga, if you lose games, you gain experience,” Gorayeb closed. “If you win games, you build confidence. Eh doon pa lang sa learning process, hindi sila makatakbo at makaalis,”
