By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Games Today (The Arena, San Juan City)
9:30 a.m. – JRU vs Perpetual (Jrs)
11 a.m. – JRU vs Perpetual (Women’s)
12:30 p.m. – Lyceum vs Arellano (Women’s)
2 p.m. – Lyceum vs Arellano (Men’s)
3:30 p.m. – Lyceum vs Arellano (Jrs)
Mental toughness will be the name of the game when unbeaten Arellano University tackles undermanned Lyceum today in NCAA women’s volleyball at The Arena in San Juan City.
The defending champion Lady Chiefs gun for their fifth consecutive win to remain at the helm with the San Beda Red Spikers while the Lady Pirates seek to improve their 1-3 win-loss mark near the bottom in their 12:30 p.m. confrontation.
Despite their impeccable record, Arellano coach Obet Javier remains unsatisfied with his team’s performance, saying they needed to work on their psychological approach on their games.
“Lumalabas pa rin yung sakit namin na kapag nanalo kami ng first set, nagla-lie low yung galaw ng team. Ever since, yun talaga ang number one problem ng Arellano,” said Javier.
Javier was pertaining to their 25-11, 22-25, 25-18, 25-16 victory over Jose Rizal University last Tuesday, where they dropped a set for the first time this season after losing their reception and committing more errors.
The Lady Chiefs were able to recover that time, but Javier said they must not make the same mistake against the dangerous Lady Pirates, who are out to prove they can still prevail even with eight players.
Guided by long-time mentor Emil Lontoc, Lyceum still packs strength with Christine Miralles, Bien Juanillo, Monica Sevilla and setter Cherry Rose Genova.
For Lontoc, their main goal is to take it one game at a time.
“Pahalagahan lang nila ang sitwasyon ng bola,” said Lontoc.
In other matches, University of Perpetual Help (3-1) squares off with JRU (2-2) at 11 a.m. while their junior counterparts, the Perpetual Junior Altas and the JRU Light Bombers raise the curtain at 9:30 a.m.