Adamson University was able to return to the win column of the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament after defeating winless University of the East in four sets, 25-16, 25-19, 20-25, 27-25, Saturday.
But head coach Jerry Yee was not thrilled especially after that disastrous third set where his Lady Falcons trailed by as much as seven points before eventually giving up the set.
Even in the fourth frame, Adamson needed to double time to escape with a 27-25 tally for its eighth win in 11 outings.
“Ayun tumagal pa muntik pa kaming matalo, good thing nagrecover pa rin,” opened Yee during the postgame interview.
“We have to work on ourselves. Yung kakaba-kaba nandiyan eh, yung pressure, yung kung ano ano yung iniisip nandiyan eh. Pero again kumakapit nga then nageexecute,” he added, giving credit to her girls for still getting the job done.
Team captain Louie Romero and sparkplug middle blocker Ckyle Tagsip also echoed the sentiments of their mentor.
But on the other hand, they too know what they lacked and need to work on come their next game especially it is going to be the league-leading De La Salle University on Wednesday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
“Medyo naging inconsistent yung bawat isa. Sabi namin bawi lang kahit anong mangyari importante naman maipanalo natin itong laro na ito,” said Romero, who tossed 24 excellent sets to go with three points on two blocks and a service ace.
“Medyo sinasabayan po namin yung kalaban, alam ko naman po na hindi kami yun. Masaya po na nairaos po namin pero marami po kaming lapses na kailangan pang iworkout. Kailangan pa po namin pag-igihan sa next games,” said Tagsip, who produced seven points including two blocks as well off the bench.
Adamson needs all the wins it could muster until the end of elimination round as it has an 8-3 win-loss card with University of Santo Tomas and National University just behind it with 7-3 cards.
That was why Yee called two timeouts late in the fourth set with UE, to remind his wards that they needed all three points just in case of tiebreakers.
“I asked for consecutive timeouts just to tell them na kapag umabot ng fifth set, we lose that one point advantage. I tried to remind them na pag nag fifth set kami, bawas ng isang puntos yun,” he said.
Yee said what happened against the Lady Warriors should not be the case when they face the Lady Spikers.
He also shared what they need to work on in their three days of preparation.
“Kailangan present kami, kailangan present yung first ball…Kailangan presence of mind and kung ano yung napagusapan, maimplement namin and yung kakaba-kaba dapat makarecover agad,” said Yee.
“Masarap sanang sabihin na yun lang, simple lang yung problema pero ang laki non eh, nagdodomino effect yun so dapat nandoon yung first ball, second touch, and yung third touch namin kapag hindi kami magrereact sa blocking ng La Salle wala pa rin,” the NCAA champion coach conitnued.
Tagsip also followed, “Skills-wise naman po I think hindi naman kami nagkakalayo, sa attitude lang po talaga so kailangan maging positive always and kapag nagkakamali po, kailangan po talagang bawiin agad yung sarili kasi kapag hindi po, lumalayo po eh.”
