Earlier today, the DLSU Lady Spikers absorbed their first loss as they stumbled past the UP Lady Maroons in a thrilling five-setter match at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, 25-21, 20-25, 21-25, 25-20, 12-15.
Isabel Molde was dominant on both ends of the floor as she led the Lady Maroons with 20 points on 17 attacks and three blocks to seal the win. In the losing effort, rookie Jolina Dela Cruz contributed 19 points on 14 attacks, four blocks, and a service ace.
Fueled then foiled
Fueled to take advantage of a head start, the Lady Spikers opened a 3-0 run against the Lady Maroons, but was spoiled by the error of May Luna. Thrilled by the long rallies in the first half of the first set, both teams exchanged possession of the lead until Molde charged the team from Diliman with three consecutive points, 16-18. However, Marrione Alba delivered triple aces at the line after stepping in for Michelle Cobb in orchestrating their plays to put off the UP fire, 22-19. Ernestine Tiamzon landed her second point to seal the first set at 25-21, in favor of DLSU.
Looking to repeat the first set result, the Taft-based squad started hot with 4-0, but the ladies from Diliman slowly climbed up to knot the scores at 11. Errors, however, haunted the DLSU’s momentum that hindered them to retake the lead and even giving away the set point for UP from a net touch, 25-20. The Lady Spikers tallied 11 errors against the Lady Maroons’ three for the second set.
“In-address ko kanina, sinabi ko na ‘yun [errors] yung dapat ayusin ng team…Maganda na yung situation biglang mawawala,” head coach Ramil De Jesus shared as he added that Des Cheng’s right shoulder hurt while playing and with Luna nursing her injured gums during training.
(I addressed it earlier, I said it was the [errors] which the team needs to fix… We were already in a good situation and then we lose it.)
Inconsistent second half
Errors continued to haunt the Lady Spikers in the third set, as they gave away 10 points due to attack and service errors. A yellow card was given to Desiree Cheng as she tried to contest a call made by the first referee. Meanwhile, the Lady Maroons maintained their momentum as they continued to attack the team from Taft with spikes. The third set ended with a Tiamzon error, giving the set to UP, 25-21.
The fourth set tested the Lady Spikers’ composure as they were down two sets to one. Leading the team from Taft was Luna with 7 points, who attacked relentlessly from all corners of the court. The collective effort of Justine Dorog and Dianna Carlos weren’t enough to power their team in sealing the victory at the fourth set. The set ended with back-to-back hits from Luna, forcing a decider, 25-20.
It was a back and forth battle between the two teams in the deciding set. Aeishalaine Gannaban came alive for the Lady Maroons in the fifth set as she managed to score three consecutive hits to give UP the lead in the early part of the set. The match ended with two consecutive errors from the Green-and-White, handing the victory to the Lady Maroons, 15-12.
“I just have to learn from what happened today and bounce back,” libero CJ Saga shared. The Lady Spiker tallied 21 excellent digs on 42 attempts and 14 excellent receptions on 31 attempts. “Kailangan lang namin balikan yung sarili namin, kailangan lang namin i-remember kung sino talaga kami,” she closed.
(We just need to go back to our old ways, we just need to remember who we really are.)
After the game, De Jesus already has his head held high looking forward to his players’ comeback. “Isipin natin kung paano makabalik. Hindi ako nagalit sa kanila, walang sisi na ‘ikaw ang may kasalanan’. Basta motivation lang ang ginawa ko sa kanila,” he added as he looks forward to bounce back in their next assignment.
(We’re thinking of how we’ll come back. I wasn’t mad at them, I wasn’t blaming anyone. I only motivated them.)
The Lady Spikers will try to regain their momentum as they go against the UST Golden Tigresses on Wednesday, March 6, at 4 pm at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
The scores:
DLSU (103) – Dela Cruz 19, Ogunsanya 13, Cheng 12, Luna 12, Cobb 5, Tiamzon 4, Alba 3, Clemente 3, Ipac 3, Saga 0
UP (106) – Molde 20, Carlos 19, Layug 11, Dorog 8, Gannaban 6, Estranero 4, Ramos 1, Buitre 0, Altomea 0
