The De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Spikers came back with vengeance for the second round of the 81st season of the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) elimination round after a straight-set win over the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs, who previously defeated them in the first round, last Wednesday, March 27 at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.
The reigning champions were led by Desiree Cheng, who had 17 points off 14 attacks, two aces, and one block. Tin Tiamzon also delivered with seven kills, two blocks, and two aces for a total of 11 points contributed. Lourdes Celemente, on the other hand, had five blocks within nine points, while freshman Jolina Dela Cruz contributed seven points on top of eight excellent receptions and six digs. For NU, it was only their team captain Roselyn Doria who was able to contribute double-digit points, totalling 11.
DLSU head coach Ramil de Jesus is glad to see his players bounce back from their loss against the University of the Philippines (UP) Lady Maroons last Sunday, where they had 37 errors and 17 service faults, saying in Filipino during the post-game interview, “Last Sunday was our heaviest loss. Today, I told them not to think about it. Don’t think that the team is weak; in every composition of the team, the strength of the team was different last year,” adding, “We need to believe in our team, we need to believe in ourselves. Opponents will not be our reason for winning, we need to move, we need to work hard to win.” De Jesus concluded, “Compared to Sunday, we were better today, we got a lot of aces. We worked on that as well. The range is nicer now, our target is at the right place.”
This win now solidifies DLSU’s second-place standing, with a 6-3 win-loss record and their next game being against the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Lady Tigresses at the Mall of Asia Arena next Sunday, March 31. NU, who has now dropped to 2-7 at seventh place, will try to redeem themselves facing Adamson on the same day.