WHILE they have seemingly recovered from an initial slippage in their University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 81 women’s volleyball campaign, the Ateneo Lady Eagles said they are still a work in progress relative to where they want to be.
Notched their second straight victory on Sunday with a hard-earned come-from-behind win over the Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws, 14-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-18 and 15-12, the Lady Eagles (2-1) have moved to the top half of the standings after opening their season with a loss.
After three games, the Lady Eagles said they are happy where they are at but know that they still have to put in the needed work if they are to fashion out a truly successful season.
“[The first three games have been a] challenge for us. There will always be pressure and challenges but we can turn these into blessings if we have games like this where we can continue to learn and our character is further honed,” said Ateneo coach Oliver Almadro following their win over FEU.
The Ateneo coach touted the kind of performance and determination his wards showed against the Lady Tamaraws, believing they can learn a lot from it.
“It’s really the faith. I just asked them to keep the faith at one another and, of course, God, and it will be given to them. They just have to trust themselves and the talent follows. We must maximize what we can do,” said Mr. Almadro.
Against FEU, the Lady Eagles came out flat in the early goings of the contest but dug deep to overcome being two sets down to pull the rug from under the Lady Tamaraws for their second straight win.
Kat Toletino paced Ateneo in the big win with 19 points with veteran Maddie Madayag adding 14.
Ponggay Gaston had nine points while setter Deanna Wong had eight points and Jules Samonte seven.
“We really had a bad start. There’s no excuse for that. I guess we just played as a team in the third to fifth set. We stepped up and pulled up one another. Hopefully we can continue doing that,” said Madayag.
Next for the Lady Eagles is matchup with the University of the East Lady Warriors on March 3, Sunday. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
