One of the key factors in La Salle’s impressive 25-22, 25-14, 25-18 win against the Ateneo Lady Eagles was the stellar play of middle blocker Mika Reyes.
Utilizing her height advantage to aid her team’s net defense, coupled along with her patented quick attacks, Reyes finished the game with 9 points and 2 kill blocks. Also, her aggressive play keyed a lot of La Salle’s defensive stops and helped extinguish Ateneo’s momentum.
“I can’t think of a right term pero siguro we were hungry talaga ang gusto namin sila talunin and ibalik ‘yung respeto nila,” Reyes shared. “Ilang games na rin kaming natatalo before sa [Ateneo] so kailangan lang namin ito talaga.”
With the string of losses against Ateneo serving as her and the team’s motivation, this win couldn’t have come at a better time for the Taft squad. It has been two years since the Lady Spikers managed to win against the Alyssa Valdez-led Lady Eagles.
“Pero siyempre sa side namin na ilang years na natatalo sa kanila,” she added. “So first and foremost, kailangan namin yung kumpiyansa namin sa sarili [for us to win] against Ateneo.”
And with the team’s confidence having taken a huge leap with that win, Reyes now believes there are brighter days ahead for La Salle and she hopes that her younger teammates will follow suit.
“Yes. Siyempre bumalik ang kumpiyansa namin. Hindi porket defending champion sila, hindi na sila pwedeng matalo,” she followed. “Entering this game, di ba undefeated sila and kami may isang talo.”
“Sobrang good thing na nagstep up ang iba. Hindi naman sa senior kami, na sa amin lang aasa. Nakakahelp ‘yung contribution ng each and every one of us.”
However, it is still a long way to go for the Lady Spikers, since the first round of the tournament is yet to finish. With the way things are going right now, however, momentum is clearly on La Salle’s side. The Lady Spikers’ next game will be against the University of Santo Tomas Tigresses this coming Wednesday at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
“Kami laban pa rin kami until the end kasi may one last game kami sa UST and then we’ll be ready sa second round,” Reyes closed.
