Eye-opener after eye-opener but this time, mighty National University fell and saw its 20-game winning streak snapped.
That was their first loss since April 27, 2019 when University of Santo Tomas defeated them in four, 27-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-16.
The first team that cracked the armor of the untouchable NU this Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament was Adamson University, last Wednesday. The Lady Falcons dragged the reigning champions to five sets before faltering.
That was the first five-setter of the Lady Bulldogs since March 4, 2020 when the Golden Tigresses extended the match before eventually bowing.
And the second team that broke NU’s armor wide open on Saturday was – coincidentally or not – UST as well.
The Tigresses denied the Lady Bulldogs’ comeback bid en route to the emotional win, 25-23, 27-25, 17-25, 23-25, 15-11, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
With the dominating days of NU looking to be over after its games against Adamson and UST, senior Joyme Cagande spoke.
“Eye-opener sa amin na there are certain things na kailangan namin bigyan ng pansin na baka sa sobrang hype sa amin, hindi namin napapansin na napapabayaan na namin kung anong dapat namin imaintain at iimprove,” said Cagande.
Hyped was NU in the preseason as the team only lost Ivy Lacsina and retained the core of its 16-0 champion squad including Rookie MVP Mhicaela Belen, Princess Robles, Alyssa Solomon, Camilla Lamina, and Jen Nierva.
They also swept the Shakey’s Super League.
But all that is already water under the bridge as the Tigresses showed that the once-mighty, once-untouchable NU can be beaten.
“Marami po talaga kami nakita sa game na yun na kailangan namin iimprove from service to set to receive to dig lahat po ng skills kailangan po namin iimprove,” added Cagande.
All hope is not lost though as this was just the Lady Bulldogs’ third game in a tournament that will have teams play 14 games each.
And more importantly, yes, they lost, but this was not a do-or-die match or something with the same implication.
It might have shown the league that NU is beatable but the Lady Bulldogs are already looking for redemption.
“Magandang opportunity po ito at the same time habang maaga magkakaroon kami ng time to change ourselves and to redeem ourselves,” Cagande shared.
“Hindi po kami hihinto.”
