University of the Philippines’ opening day match against the Adamson Lady Falcons barely lasted more than an hour and a half.
The Lady Maroons were dominant throughout but Lady Maroons head coach Jerry Yee admitted that they won more because of Adamson’s inexperience rather than their skills.
“Needs improvement, hindi magandang test eh kasi bago ang kalaban,” the Filipino-Chinese mentor said. “May mga miscues pa rin tayo at saka ‘yung mga usual mistakes natin nandiyan pa rin.
“Dominant? Probably not because of us.”
Lady Maroons skipper Ayel Estrañero begged to differ, saying that the win was a solid first step, especially for as she played the role of setter for the first-time in her UAAP career.
“It’s good for us na nanalo kami. I’m happy for the team kasi siyempre ilang months kami nag-training. Unte-unte nagpepayoff ‘yung hardwork namin inside and outside the court,” the 20-year-old expressed.
“As the setter, I know kung ano ‘yung kaya ng team. I guess there’s more to improve. Kaya pa namin mag-perform better. Maybe we just have to train harder.”
But just like her mentor, the Bacolod-native rated her first go as the lead playmaker as average.
“It was okay kasi hindi naman sobrang taas ng expectations ko for myself since I was just a converted setter,” furthered the 2014 Palarong Pambansa Best Attacker.
“Pero it’s not an excuse for me to perform as to what coach Jerry expects of me. Alam kong marami pa akong kailangan i-improve and I’m willing to do extra work to better myself and help the team.”
The UE Lady Warriors are next on UP’s schedule. Unlike last year, the Lady Warriors are not the pushovers they once were years back.
“They’re [UE] really improving. Siguro the speed in which we play will be key and executing our plays. And we need to have better first balls,” Estrañero said.
“Their height will definitely be a problem. Hopefully, we can execute what we train come Saturday,” Yee added.
