University of Santo Tomas rising star Angge Poyos is taking her first collegiate loss in stride following the Golden Tigresses’ four-set loss to the National University Lady Bulldogs in the second round of the UAAP Season 86 women’s volleyball tournament last week. 

The 20-year-old outside hitter led the España-squad to eight wins in a row, which was its best start in the tournament before yielding to the vengeful NU side. 

Poyos averaged 21 points to make the rare sweep in the first round possible for UST which included a straight-set win over NU. 

With bruised egos, the Lady Bulldogs took one back against the Golden Tigresses with their own four-set win in the second round.

“Ang daming nagkulang sa game. Unang una na nawala sa amin is the communication. Nawalan din kami ng gana nung patapos na ‘yung set. Hindi naman natatapos rito ‘yung lahat. Still, nasa top pa rin kami at 8-1,” said Poyos. 

“Ang need lang namin gawin is mag bounce back and ‘yung mga kulang namin or need to improve on, gawin namin,” she added

UST, though, remained as the top seed with defending champion De La Salle closely behind in the standings. 

“Siguro ‘yung talo namin ngayon gawin na lang motivation sa susunod na games kasi nga na-sweep namin ‘yung first round, and then natalo kami early in the second round. Motivation na namin to para magpursigi pa sa mga next games,” she said. 

With their loss coming just before the break, UST head coach KungFu Reyes deemed it a blessing for the squad to learn painful lessons early into the second round before they head to a tight race in the last stretch of the eliminations. 

“Maganda naman as early as the second game of the second round, naramdaman na namin or nakita na talaga ‘yung somehow breaking point,” Reyes, for his part, said. 

Reyes also added that his players did not lack in the technical and tactical side of things, only their character was put to the test. 

“We’ll work on our mental toughness, how to recover, body language, ‘yun ang mga tinitingnan namin ngayon. We lost a game, but definitely hindi pa rin dapat mawala ‘yung character,” he said. 

“Technical at tactical ng volleyball nasa kanila na. It’s more on the mental and emotional side kailangan namin i-tackle for our upcoming game.”

UST will tackle the Adamson Lady Falcons when actions resume on Wednesday, April 3, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.