They may be one of the younger squads in a league dominated by veterans and old-timers, but slowly but surely, they have been presenting themselves as giant slayers.
The University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses joined the 13th Shakey’s V-League Reinforced Conference without neither imports nor guest players, but it appears that they do not need them to bolster their bid in the tournament.
Their participation in the Reinforced Conference is one of their training grounds in preparation for the bigger stage, the UAAP Season 79 Women’s Volleyball, which is slated to raise its curtains early 2017.
Playing in the V-League may just be a part of their tuning for the UAAP, but with the way the Tigresses are playing, they seem to be more than ready to compete in the country’s prestigious collegiate league.
The Thomasians are off to a blistering 3-0 start in the import-laden conference, a magical run considering that they have sent down veteran squads in Air Force last October 1 and Bali Pure just last Saturday night.
With their unscathed run, UST head coach Emilio “Kungfu” Reyes declared that their three straight wins early in the tourney is a product of their grit and grind effort.
“Di ko sinasabing nakaka-tsamba kami, tinatrabaho lang talaga namin,” said Reyes in the post-game, moments after his UST Tigresses had stunned the Bali Pure Purest Water Defenders in four sets on Saturday night.
Reyes also highlighted the team’s development as far as maturity is concerned, saying that the young Tigresses are peaking at the right time.
“Pinipilit naming trabahuhin yung ganyan pero wala kaming mailabas especially dun sa mga bata [last year]. Yung maturity nga, lumalabas,” Reyes explained.
The youthful head coach is also a believer of the “trust the process” mentality, since the slogan can be related to UST’s growth.
“Sabi nga, it takes time. So lahat ng sacrifices, yung halos laitin na kami, ganun talaga. It’s part of the process.”
And Reyes is also grateful for all the pain and setbacks the team have gone through, saying these have helped the Tigresses be a better version of themselves.
“Kailangan namin masaktan. Kumbaga gawin mong motivation yung mga sakit na naramdaman mo para lumakas ka,” he stated.
Now that their campaign is about to get more difficult, Reyes hopes that the Tigresses will be able to sustain momentum all throughout the conference.
“Hopefully magtuloy-tuloy,” he concluded.
