Earlier today, the DLSU Lady Spikers went back to the win column after knocking down the NU Lady Bulldogs in straight sets, 25-20, 25-18, 25-10, at the FilOil Flying V Centre. With the win, the team from Taft now sports a 6-3 win-loss record, while the team from Sampaloc went down to a 2-7 record.
Lady Spikers team captain Des Cheng topped all players, tallying 17 points on 14 attacks, a block, and two service aces. In the losing effort, skipper Roselyn Doria tallied 11 points on eight attacks, a block, and two service aces.
Dominant all throughout
The Lady Spikers opened the first set with a commanding six-point lead, 10-4. The Lady Bulldogs answered back with the help of Doria and rookie Gelina Luceño to cut down the deficit, 10-6. However, the Green-and-White quickly responded as Cheng, rookie Jolina Dela Cruz, and Tin Tiamzon attacked from all corners to widen their gap, 16-10. An Audrey Paran service error gave the Lady Spikers the first set, 25-20.
“Lagi pinapaalala ni coach na tiwala sa sarili. ‘Nasa La Salle ka eh, wala namang La Salle na duwag.’ Lagi lang niya pinapaalala at siguro nadala namin sa laro,” Dela Cruz shared.
(Coach would always remind us to believe in ourselves. ‘You are in La Salle, there is no one from La Salle who is a coward.’ He would always remind us that and I think we brought it to the game [today].)
The start of the second set was a back and forth battle between the teams as they kept catching up to each other. With the heroics of Cheng, the team from Taft started to separate from the team from Sampaloc, 8-5. Tiamzon helped the cause of the Lady Spikers as she hit it off the block, giving DLSU a three-point lead, 17-14. NU tried to cut the deficit by three with attacks and a service ace from Robles, 21-18. The second set ended with a powerful cross court hit from Cheng, as the team from Taft eventually sealed the second set, 25-18.
La Salle capitalized on their momentum coming into the third set as they immediately went on a 6-1 run. Dela Cruz attacked the defense of the Lady Bulldogs, scoring back-to-back service aces giving a seven-point lead to the Lady Spikers, 13-6. Lourdes Clemente showed her defensive prowess in the net as she blocked the heavy attacks of NU thrice in the set, 21-7. With an attack error from Lacsina, the Lady Bulldogs handed the match to the Lady Spikers, 25-10.
“Kailangan natin maniwala sa team natin, maniwala sa sarili natin. Hindi kalaban ang magpapanalo sa atin, tayo ang gumalaw, tayo ang maghirap para manalo tayo” were the words head coach Ramil De Jesus shared to his team before coming into today’s match.
(We need to believe in our team, believe in ourselves. It’s not our opponent that would make us win, we should move, we should push harder so we would win.)
The Lady Spikers will try to bring the same momentum coming into the next game as they go against their first round tormentors, the UST Golden Tigresses, on Sunday, March 31 at 4 pm at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The scores:
DLSU (75) – Cheng 17, Tiamzon 11, Clemente 9, Dela Cruz 7, Ogunsanya, 5, Cobb 2, Saga 0
NU (48) – Doria 11, Robles 8, Lacsina 7, Paran 6, Luceno 5, Chavez 1, Nierva 0
