COLLEGIATE rivals Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles and De La Salle University Lady Spikers will tangle in an all-important game this afternoon at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Lady Eagles are safely into the semifinals round after winning its last 10 matches but are still determined to score a victory as a revenge to their only loss in the elimination round so far against the Lady Spikers.
The Lady Spikers, on the other hand, hopes to score a repeat over the streaking Lady Eagles to improve their 8-3 win-loss slate and to secure their place in the semifinals round.
Lady Eagles veteran Madeleine Madayag said that, even if the match was already a non-bearing, they will still give their 100 percent as they wanted to enter the post season on a winning note.
“Yung mga patapos na games we want to finish it strong pa rin para hopefully mas marami pa kaming ma-improve on like iwas errors na dapat gawin,” the graduating Madayag said.
Ateneo mentor Oliver Almadro seconded her prized middle blocker saying that, more than avenging their first round defeat, he also wanted his players not to be complacent especially with their winning run.
“Well, we’re always saying that our mentality is to be better than our best,“ Almadro said. “But iyon nga sabi ni Maddie, our mindset is right motivation all the time. We don’t care about the stats, sino number one, sino number eight.”
“What’s important is you win the last game of the season, so that’s what we’re thinking,” he added. “We’re not preparing for ito lang, we’re preparing long-term, we’re preparing hanggang sa dulo na nakaabot kami hanggang dulo.”
Lady Spikers head coach Ramil de Jesus, meanwhile, said that he is preparing his squad for a possible repeat win over their rivals to boost their chance of finishing second in the standings after eliminations.
“Nakatapat na namin sila noong first round, nagulat sa amin. Sana magulat ulit,” said De Jesus. “Alam naman namin since offseason pa kasi talagang makikita mo bawat rotation ng Ateneo matatangkad. Medyo malalim din ‘yung bench.”
“Hindi na importante sa akin kung sino man ‘yung talunin namin, kung sino man ‘yung daanan namin,” he added. “Importante sa amin ‘yung standing makuha namin ‘yung number two kasi alam ko imposible na ‘yung No. 1 so ‘yung No. 2 na lang.”/PN
