Kungfu Reyes assured that University of Santo Tomas’ super rookie Angge Poyos will be back on Saturday when they face Far Eastern University at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.
Poyos, leading the UAAP Season 86 women’s volleyball tournament in scoring so far, missed the Golden Tigresses game on Wednesday against University of the Philippines due to dehydration.
Although without its ace, UST still took care of business by beating the Fighting Maroons in four sets, 25-14, 25-13, 28-30, 25-15 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The Golden Tigresses hardly missed the 22.3 points per game production of the 5-foot-8 outside hitter out of Bohol. She was also the league’s top spiker with a 41.7 percent success rate and second-best server with 0.38 aces per set.
“Ibinigay namin yung mas mahalaga para sa kanya which is yung makarecover muna kasi nagstart siya ng Sunday medyo under the weather though nag-ensayo siya,” said Reyes on Poyos’ first missed game this season.
“Expect niyo lang na babalik naman siya by Saturday. Nothing serious about kay Poyos, talagang binigay lang namin yung tamang pahinga para makapag-recover talaga,” he continued.
Without Poyos and Banagua, who missed her second straight points due to continuous rehab of her knee injury, Reyes credited the other Golden Tigresses who stepped up.
Jonna Perdido matched her career-best performance with 24 points on 22 attacks, one block, and one ace while Regina Jurado tallied her career-high with 24 points on 21 spikes and three blocks.
Xyza Gula, who started for Poyos, had 12 points as well, while Mae Coronado had nine points, playing in the place of Banagua.
“Supposedly kagabi magte-training ulit (si Angge) pero talagang medyo dizzy pa yung bata that’s why 14 kami, pwedeng mag step up yung ladies na katabi ko at yung nasa dugout,” said Reyes.
Meanwhile, for the Tigresses, they simply did their part to win for their injured teammates.
Team captain Bernadett Pepito shared her reminders to the team after allowing UP to snatch third set, 30-28.
“Ni-remind ko lang din talaga ‘yung team kung sino ‘yung pinanghuhugutan namin, kung para kanino itong kailangan namin ipanalo. Luckily, nagrespond naman po ng positive,” said Pepito, who had 28 excellent digs, and nine excellent receptions.
“Tinrabaho lang din po talaga namin yung larong ito. Inaalay namin yung larong ito para kay Angge at Em so talagang nagstep up din yung mga nagfill ng shoes nila,” added Cassie Carballo, who posted 19 excellent sets and six points.
According to the long-time UST mentor, Banagua may return on Saturday or next week as their strength and conditioning coach has already cleared her.
