Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
MANILA, Philippines – The Adamson Lady Falcons looked like they were on the way to being one of the teams you’d consider “from the outside looking in.”
After already dropping 4 of their first 5 games in the UAAP Season 78 women’s volleyball tournament, the Falcons were in danger of falling to a dangerous 1-5 hole on Wednesday, February 24, when they trailed the FEU Lady Tamaraws zero sets to two.
Simply put, a defeat to the Lady Tams would have been devastating for Adamson in its chase for a Final Four slot, even with the first round still a few game days away from ending, for a few reasons:
The top two teams, Ateneo (6-0) and La Salle (4-1), have already built a cushion. That means two spots remain in reach. NU only has only two losses so far. Same with FEU entering the game. UP and UST have suffered loses just thrice each.
Fortunately for Adamson, it was somehow able to win the next 3 sets against FEU to give them a huge confidence-builder of a victory, get the chance to remain in the Final Four mix for the foreseeable future, and deal the Tams a crushing defeat.
“It’s important because the standings is tight,” AdU head coach Sherwin Meneses said post game.
Two critical factors were huge in the Falcons’ comeback win: the 41 points they received from FEU’s errors, and the impressive play of the team’s 3 key players.
Veteran Jessica Galanza had 16 points. Team captain Mylene Paat had 12, a few from clutch conversions late in sets. May Roque, the team’s budding star, led her team with 23 points.
“Our load lessened,” Galanza said in Tagalog about how huge Roque’s performance was. “I knew Maye could contribute. Not just her, but all of us. She was a huge help.”
Galanza also said about her team’s huge victory that:
“We lessened our errors and we also displayed effort, because if you have effort - perfect effort - you’re really going to win.”
When asked about what was going wrong for Adamson during their string of 4 straight defeats entering the game on Wednesday, Roque said in Tagalog that:
“We had off-communication. [But] we’ve been fixing it since no one’s letting go. We know we can win. We just need to hold on.”
The trust of their head coach, according to Galanza, has been vital.
“He wants us to realize what we need to do. We just really focused,” she said, explaining that he allows his players to get through rocky situations without always turning to him.
Meneses also believes that slow starts, similar to against FEU, has cost his team dearly.
“That was our problem in our past games - our starts weren’t good,” he said in Tagalog.
“We talked about if we play right, we’ll bounce back.”
That’s what his team did against the now 3-3 Lady Tamaraws, while Adamson improved to 2-4 itself.
It’s not an ideal record, but still within striking distance of NU, FEU, UST, and UP.
“I’m okay with what we do inside the court,” Roque, 18, said.
And to Galanza, the Lady Falcons displayed against FEU what they need to the rest of the way: “tapang” (guts). – Rappler.com
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
