On the edge of a repeat of its meltdown on the same stage last year, defending champion and top-seeded National University (NU) on Saturday turned to a simple approach—one that its new mentor used to the hilt in the pros.
That’s what it took for the Lady Bulldogs to prevail in the UAAP Season 87 women’s volleyball Final Four at Smart Araneta Coliseum as they gutted out a reverse sweep at the expense of Far Eastern University (FEU), which pushed them to the limit the year before.
“You really don’t know who was going to prevail. So the mindset was to simply take things one point at a time, which is [what we apply] at Creamline,” head coach Sherwin Meneses said shortly after the 20-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-14, 17-15 triumph that scratched the need for them to fish for their twice-to-beat protection.
“We just kept telling ourselves that the game won’t finish in one or two sets. Until the game is over, we have a fighting chance, and that’s what we showed—we really worked in the third until the fifth set,” said skipper Bella Belen, who greased the NU comeback machine with 24 points with 14 digs and 10 receptions.
“I had huge trust in my teammates that we could win a game, regardless of the score, regardless of the set,” she went on.
Alyssa Solomon, Vange Alinsug and Chams Maaya chipped in twin-digit outings of their own, keeping the Lady Tamaraws within reach as the game plodded along.
“I’m really glad we fought through it all until the fifth set,” said Alinsug, who put up 15 attacks to go with her eight digs and 14 receptions.
“When the scores were getting close, we just kept hyping each other up, saying that it would feel even better if we earned this win.”
Faida Bakanke showed the way for FEU with her 15 points, while Gerz Petallo delivered 13 digs and 14 receptions. But they had very few answers for the Lady Bulldogs, who cranked things up midway through the contest, aching to reach a familiar place. A better one.
“I always remind them: there’s no such thing as two points. No three points. No instantly winning three sets,” Meneses, a multi-titled coach in the Premier Volleyball League, said.
“That’s also what I tell them in every training session: their competitiveness should come from taking it one point at a time, one stop at a time.”
With the victory, NU marched to its fourth straight Finals appearance.
The Lady Tamaraws, who dragged NU to a rubber match in Season 85, bowed out of the race; their hopes of snaring a 30th UAAP women’s volleyball crown pushed to another season.
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