THE De La Salle Lady Spikers aim to stretch their unbeaten run to nine games as they face the UST Golden Tigresses in the UAAP Season 88 women’s volleyball second round at the Araneta Coliseum Wednesday.
Looking to sweep their season series, the Lady Spikers face the Golden Tigresses at 1 p.m., preceding the other women’s match between the Adamson Lady Falcons and the Ateneo Blue Eagles at 3 p.m.
Men’s matches take place in the morning with the UST Golden Spikers taking on the De La Salle Green Spikers at 9 a.m. followed by the contest between the Adamson Soaring Falcons and the Ateneo Blue Eagles at 11 a.m.
The league-leading Lady Spikers blanked the fourth running Golden Tigresses in their first round encounter, 25-14, 25-15, 26-24, on February 22 for a 2-0 start.
La Salle stayed unbeaten for six more games including its latest win over Adamson, 25-19, 17-25, 25-23, 25-23, last Saturday.
Logging 21 points and 15 excellent receptions against the Lady Falcons, Angel Canino emphasized the need for the Lady Spikers to shore up their blocking.
“We’ll probably just focus on the mistakes we noticed in this game, and what in-game adjustments we need to make against UST,” the Season 85 Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player said.
“Of course, our blocking. We really need to focus on blocking, defense, and of course, service. That’s pretty much it—just the in-game adjustments we need to make against UST. And of course, stay focused because we have another game coming up.”
Meanwhile, the Tigresses turned back the Blue Eagles last Saturday, 21-25, 25-11, 25-22, 25-12, for their third straight win and a 5-3 slate.
MVP frontrunner Angge Poyos hammered 25 points laced with 11 excellent receptions and five digs in that contest.
Poyos said the Tigresses still have a lot of fine-tuning to do.
“For me, we still haven’t shown a lot yet, like our connection from setter to spiker, from middle to setter. So, it’s really about polishing our movements and coordination,” said Poyos.