The Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles have been nothing short of dominant in the UAAP Season 81 Women’s Volleyball Tournament.
With their army of tall, powerful veterans, the Lady Eagles have carved out a substantial room between them and the rest of the league, going to 10-1 with a 10-game winning streak.
Their only loss, however, came against perennial rivals De La Salle University Lady Spikers on opening weekend. The two are set to meet again this Saturday, with the Lady Spikers hungry for a win to remain the top-two seed in the Final Four.
Ateneo head coach Oliver Almadro wants his players to match La Salle’s intensity. While they have a much clearer path to a twice-to-beat advantage in the semis, the Lady Eagles want to stay aggressive.
“Well, darating talaga ‘yung game na kakalabanin namin sila. It will really come. What I’m telling my players is just that be better than your best. ‘Yung tournament ‘di natatapos sa elimination iyon; ‘yung UAAP may semifinals, and kung papalarin may Finals, so dadaan talaga siya,” said Almadro.
“So kung sasabihin na may special preparation, no, we don’t do that. We always prepare for every team. Lahat ng team kailangan importante, lahat ng team kailangan i-respeto. Siguro talagang alam naman namin na La Salle is the top team. They’re the defending champions, so we’ll just do things that matter and we’ll really keep pushing ourselves up, kasi alam naman natin great teams will just push us forward,” the decorated men’s volleyball head coach continued.
“So knowing that La Salle is a great team, they will push us forward.”
With a cushion at this stretch of the season, Almadro refuses to allow complacency to set in with his team.
“We’re always saying that our mentality is to be better than our best, we don’t care about the standings. Our mindset is a right motivation all the time. We don’t care about the stats, sino number one, sino number eight. We don’t care about it,” Almadro disclosed.
“Of course, we study it, but what’s important for us is right motivation… ‘Yung mga lamang lamang na iyan, it doesn’t matter,” he expressed.
“What’s important is you win the last game of the season, so that’s what we’re thinking.”
