All posts tagged De La Salle Lady Spikers

The Lady Spikers failed to repeat as champions as they fell to a resurgent UST in 4 sets, 18-25, 14-25, 25-16, 15-25. Led by skipper Stephanie Mercado, the team put up a valiant stand but fell prey to the taller and more experienced UST team.

La Salle took the first point of the match, but that was the only time they would taste the lead in the opening set. Although the Lady Spikers managed to limit their errors to 7, the same number as UST, poor reception resulted in less points on the attacks, 5 to UST’s 14. Our team’s spikes were either partially blocked or easily retrieved. Blocking was not as effective at the start, allowing UST to build their momentum and confidence as their attacks penetrated our net defenses. Trailing at 10-12, UST scored on 3 spikes and an error by Gohing to lead at the 2nd technical timeout. The Lady Spikers pulled to within 16-19 before UST went to their powerful hitters to take the first set.

The 2nd set started off on a positive note, with the team taking the lead up to the first technical timout at 8-7. However, unforced errors from our service as well as a couple of errant spikes allowed UST to take the lead, 8-11 forcing Coach Ramil to call for time and advise the players to slow things down. He also fielded Cerveza, Yeung, Gumabao, and Diego in an effort to break the lethargic play of our team, to no avail. Uncertainty and a curious loss of concentration told on the team, as they yielded the second set 14-25. In this set, UST exploited a small weakness whenever our setter Martinez was in the frontline as they shifted the ball to her side and used their height advantage to power their shots over her. With momentum on their side, UST looked to sweep the Lady Spikers.

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I thought our floor defense was better than it was against UST in that second round loss. However, it was in the blocking where our team was not so consistent. Although we did have our share of offensive blocks (against Santiago whose quick plays were blocked a number of times, Banaticla who was blocked on successive plays), the defensive wall put up by our net blockers was not as solid due to the variety of sets employed by UST. Recognizing that our net defenders are very effective in close quarters, Dimaculangan would set up her spikers a foot or two away from the net, and this gave them better angles to target gaps or avoid our blockers.

Carmel Garbin showed that she is a worthy successor to Kaye when Kaye plays our her eligibility, but her lack of match play showed. Yup, Joanne was not able to score too much on blocks. The players will also have to improve communication and teamwork, particularly since UST likes to target the gap between the back line defenders, and the players sometimes pause or hesitate in retrieving the ball because a teammate is close by. This hesitancy cost us several points, particularly in the 4th set when we had a chance to rally at 19-21, and we dropped 2 consecutive points because of this type of error.

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The Lady Spikers dropped game 1 of the best-of-three finals series against UST today in 4 sets – 26-24, 23-25, 16-25, and 21-25. The team lapsed into uncharacteristic errors against a tall and experienced UST team, and they now must take the second game on Saturday, February 27 if they want to retain the championship they won last year at the expense of FEU.

Setter Kaye Martinez was used sparingly because of a shoulder injury she suffered during the final 4 match against Adamson over the weekend, and this told on the fluidity of the Lady Spikers’ offense as backup setter Carmel Garbin wasn’t as precise in setting up our attackers. The variety in attack was also not as sharp, allowing the UST defense to set up their defense against our individual attackers.

Maybe it was the championship pressure, but the team lost two points when trailing at 19-21 in the 4th set because the ball dropped between two players, either of whom could have easily retrieved the ball. This kind of miscue occurred a few times during the match, robbing the team of the opportunity to score and giving UST some breathing room.

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