MANILA, Philippines — More than two weeks away from competitive action was not necessarily a huge advantage for De La Salle University head coach Ramil De Jesus.
Despite the long layoff, De Jesus believed that the three-peat seeking National University still had the edge entering the UAAP Season 88 women’s volleyball finals because of the Lady Bulldogs’ experience in handling pressure during the stepladder round.
But the Lady Spikers responded with composure and maturity.
Backed by 15,056 fans at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, La Salle swept NU, 25-23, 25-18, 25-18, in Game 1 of the best-of-three championship series on Wednesday afternoon.
Facing each other in the finals for the fifth time, the Lady Bulldogs had won three of their previous four title meetings, prompting De Jesus to emphasize mental toughness and focus heading into the series.
“We need to match up. The teams that played in the stepladder know what it feels like to play under pressure. On our end, we were also working hard, and we were having tune-ups, but the way of handling pressure is different,” said De Jesus.
“I told them we need to keep up with them. We had a slow start, then eventually we were able to adjust to that type of exchange. They were handling the pressure well.”
De Jesus added that La Salle maximized the long break to improve the team’s conditioning and recovery before the finals.
“Actually, the first week we focused more on recovery and rehab because we needed to adjust a little bit. The second round was a little bit tough on us. So, we had the time to recover, and that’s also our advantage,” he said.
In NU’s post-Bella Belen and Alyssa Solomon era, the Lady Bulldogs leaned on veterans Vange Alinsug and Arah Panique, while rookie standout Sam Cantada continued to work her way back from injury.
Still, De Jesus clarified that La Salle did not prepare a specific defensive scheme for Cantada.
“No specific defense. What I reminded them is that we are the number one blocking team, so whoever flies to score, we need to block them,” he said.
