Intentionally keeping University of Santo Tomas in mind, defending champion De La Salle drew motivation from its only oversight in the first round of the UAAP Season 86 women’s volleyball tournament. 

The Lady Spikers were not only left with a bitter taste to their mouth from their five-set defeat against the Golden Tigresses last Feb. 25, but an actual lesson to seriously learn from. 

In the fifth set of their clash against UST, the Taft-based squad was leading 12-9 before the España side countered with a 6-0 finishing kick to leave them frustrated with defeat. 

But in a rematch of last year’s finalists, La Salle repeated its dominance over National University in five sets on Saturday, March 16 – successfully keeping the solo second lead to itself.

Similar to their previous situation, the Lady Spikers jumped to a telling 12-8 advantage over the Lady Bulldogs only this time the defending champs knew that no lead was safe as they hung tough until the match point. 

“Key lesson talaga is sa fifth set. Lalo na sa fifth set wag umasa sa lamang. Kasi ‘yun nga ‘yung nangyari against UST, lamang na kami. Pero natalo pa kami. ‘Yun talaga ‘yung biggest lesson namin. And kung down kami sa sets, kailangan namin lumaban. Kailangan pa namin makita kung anong meron kami at ilabas ‘yung puso,” said reigning Rookie of the Year-Most Valuable Player Angel Canino, who tallied five of her 17 points in the closing set. 

With the second round just around the corner, Canino is hoping that all the lessons learned will materialize in the team’s fight back to the championship stage. 

With their heart and pride on the line, the young leader also understands that there are also skills to be improved and mistakes to be avoided. 

“We’re very happy with the result. Pero sobrang close fight ‘yung naging panalo against NU. So marami pa kaming kailangan matutunan with that sa five-set win. Marami pa kailangan i-improve inside kasi hindi talaga madali kalaban lahat ng [teams] ngayon. Lalo na sila. Hindi lang may puso, hindi lang may pride kundi tapatan talaga with skills,” she said. 

After suffering at the hands of UST, La Salle actually kept its games that followed brief and dominant in straight sets.  

“Champion kami last year eh. So kailangan namin ipakita kung sino kami and hindi lang dahil champion kami pero ‘yung history ng La Salle. Kasi marami na naputunayan ‘yung La Salle, so kailangan namin kapitan at patunayan pa lalo sa mga tao.” 

With top seed UST going into the second round unscathed after completing a rare sweep for the first time, La Salle will continue to play with respect to whoever is standing on its way. 

“For sure ‘yung NU hugot din nila to. Kasi siyempre they wanted to also win this game. Lahat naman kami. I think this coming second round, mas kailangan namin i-focus kung ano ba ‘yung mga weakness na nakikita ng coaches. Dapat wala na kaming lapses sa second round. Pero hindi siya madali but kailangan habulin kasi every game counts,” she concluded.