Adamson University entered the winners’ circle of the UAAP Season 86 women’s volleyball tournament after scraping past University of the Philippines in three tight sets on Saturday.
For head coach JP Yude, wins like this just showed the maturity of his Lady Falcons, who never lost composure despite the nip-and-tuck affair, 25-22, 25-22, 28-26, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Their biggest test came in the third frame where Fighting Maroon Niña Ytang dominated down the stretch to extend the set multiple times.
“Medyo kinabahan din ako doon eh kasi I want na matapos agad yung game para di makakuha ng kumpyansa yung UP,” said Yude, who also secured his first win as the Lady Falcons head coach.
“Still pinakita ng mga bata yung tapang nila sa paglalaro at hindi talaga nila binitawan yung set na yun,” the former Soaring Falcon added.
Even in the first and second stanzas, UP played catchup late and was able to do so before Adamson displayed its nerves of steel to win both.
In the second set, the Fighting Maroons came from 14-21 down before Ishie Lalongisip closed the door on UP.
“Improvement talaga yun sa mga bata kasi sabi ko nga sa kanila lagi, ‘Kapag lamang tayo kailangan mas ma-push on natin na matapos agad natin yung game pero pag lamang yung kalaban, ipush through din natin na mahabol sila at lumamang tayo’,” said Yude, who just steered Adamson high school girls’ volleyball squad to a perfect 14-0 run in the juniors division.
“Test of their character din eh and attitude kung paano nila mao-overcome yung mga ganoong sitwasyon.”
Lalongisip and May Ann Nuique led the Lady Falcons in scoring with 12 points apiece while AA Adolfo added 11 points.
Now at 1-1, the character of Adamson will be put to test anew when it squares off against National University on Wednesday.
