In his debut in the UAAP Women’s Volleyball division, Ateneo head coach Oliver Almadro was thrown into the fire of the most storied rivalry in local sports.
Though he has figured in multiple Ateneo-La Salle showdowns in the men’s tournament, nothing could compare to what he experienced on Sunday as 17,111 fans flocked to the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
And the three-time UAAP champion coach didn’t pull punches as to his team’s performance.
“What I tell my players is, the good thing here is we’ve seen our worst but we’ve not yet seen our best so it’s the first game and the UAAP is a long season. What matters is the last game of the season so we will take the positives on this game,” said Almadro, one of only two triple crown champions in the V-League.
The Lady Eagles were lackadaisical during their first match of the season, scoring just 28 points while giving up 15 aces.
“Of course, we will study and tignan kung what happened yun lang naman talaga kailangan lang bawi and we just have to know what went wrong so yun lang ang sa akin,” continued Almadro, who took over from equally-decorated tactician Tai Bundit last year.
“I will just take the positives in this game.”
Having experienced a lot of ups and downs in his career, Almadro remains confident in the Lady Eagles’ capacity to improve.
“First game is La Salle-Ateneo sa MOA Arena — the hype is there.
“They’ve seen our worst but they haven’t seen our best so bawi na lang. Prepare na lang kung ano pa ‘yung kailangan namin iprepare and kung ano pa yung strength namin kailangan palakasin pa lalo, kung ano yung weakness kailangan dagdagan,” he declared.
