De La Salle faces a tall task in its last two matchups as it looks to sweep the first round of the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament. The Lady Spikers, who made quick work of the Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws last March 11, climbed to a 5-0 record in the standings to stay as the lone unbeaten team in the tournament. However, the last season’s finalists brace for a tough stand from two formidable teams along the way in Adamson and reigning champion National University, which both hold a similar 4-1 slate in the standings, on March 19 and 22, respectively. “Kailangan paghandaan talaga. Dahil formidable teams yon eh, like yong NU alam naman natin last year di kami nanalo sa kanila, so talagang todong handa ang gagawin namin triple effort,” said intermin head coach Noel Orcullo. The long-time Lady Spiker assistant coach to Noel Orcullo took over the reign at the beginning of the season as the latter deals from an undisclosed health concern. Despite their straight-set victory over FEU which came as a bit of a surprise to the team, Orcullo is expecting nothing short of a tight showdown in their last two games at the hands of the streaking NU and Adamson. Added to the pressure of keeping their record perfect, the Lady Spikers have also not won a single match against the Lady Bulldogs last season all the way to their finals showdown. La Salle was also left with a bitter taste to its mouth in its second round affair with Adamson, something they hope to overcome in the next two weeks. “Actually hindi namin inaasahan na ganito ‘yong result ng game na straight set kasi mataas ‘yong kumpiyansa nila going into the game. Hindi ko inaasahang maging ganoong kabilis pero marami pa rin kaming kailangan itama sa team,” noted Orcullo. Rookie Angel Canino, for her part, is focusing on keeping reliable tricks up her sleeves going into their grueling encounters. “Syempre kailangan na all out ‘yong team and also individually kung ano mang pwede pa namin ilabas ilalabas na namin kasi last two games na [in the first round] and hindi siya madaling daan para sa amin so kailangan talaga all out kami,” said Canino. The freshman has made quite the name for herself not even through the first round yet, breaching the double-digit mark since her promising debut with the team, including a career-high 23 points in her first ever La Salle-Ateneo rivalry game last March 5.