Eya Laure was in attack mode throughout University of Santo Tomas’ stunning four-set win that gave De La Salle University its first loss in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament on Sunday.
The 5-foot-10 outside spiker exploded for a season-high 29 points, all from attacks, to lead the Golden Tigresses to the 25-19, 14-25, 25-18, 25-12 win at the packed SMART Araneta Coliseum with 8, 437 fans in attendance.
And her attack-all-day mindset was by design to finally put the Lady Spikers in the loss column.
“Lagi ko lang iniisip basta papaluin ko na ito, meron namang coverage si Det-Det (Pepito) and nung second set, naging gising siya sa amin na kapag pumalo, kailangan namin magcover, kailangang magtrabaho,” said Laure on the big win.
Despite her valiant efforts though, beating the Lady Spikers would be tough if it would only be her. And because of that, she rallied her team to come back her up.
And that manifested as Milena Alessandrini produced 20 points, while Regina Jurado added 12 points to her name. Imee Hernandez also made seven points.
Libero Bernadett Pepito was always behind them as well with 25 digs and 11 excellent receptions.
To have teammates who are willing to take charge in the scoring department, Laure is relieved knowing that in Season 84, she was most of the time a one-woman wrecking crew for UST.
“Sinabi ko na hindi kakayanin ng isa. Kailangan talaga marami para makakuha ng panalo – kailangan mag-work as a team. ‘Yun talaga ‘yung isa sa mga learnings ko na… Siyempre, kung last season nakakapagod, eto parang kayang mong lumabas sa court [at kaya mo pang mag] ‘hello po sa inyong lahat’. Parang kasi nung last season ‘sige po mamaya na lang po,’ so ganon,” said the graduating UST captain.
“Nakakatuwa kasi ang daming mga umaangat, sabay-sabay kami umaangat. ‘Yun po ‘yung pinaka-maganda na nangyari ngayon.”
But Laure is not taking any chances after this huge morale-boosting win that raised their record to 7-3 heading into the Holy Week break.
It has happened before that the Tigresses took a big victory – like ending National University’s 20-game winning streak – but their performance suddenly dropped the next game, losing to Adamson University in straight sets.
UST also bowed to La Salle in the first round in five sets while succumbing to the Lady Falcons anew in the second round in four sets.
“Lahat ng mga pagkatalo kasi namin since nung previous game, dun kasi kami humuhugot ng motivation. Na ayaw na namin maramdaman ‘yung nagta-trabaho ka ng sobra, pero parang hindi natutumbasan or nasusuklian ng tama,” said the Season 81 Rookie of the Year.
“Alam naman kasi namin, lalo na sa team, kung pa’no kami magtrabaho, kung pa’no namin paghandaan ‘yung mga bawat laro namin. So ayun, dun kami lagi humuhugot ng lakas.”
UST will have Ateneo on April 15 before facing Far Eastern University, National University, and University of the Philippines, in that order.
With La Salle already with a defeat, the Golden Tigresses are now targeting a Top Two finish for a twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four.
