MANILA – Negrense setter Cassie Carballo of University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses was named Player of the Week for the second week of the UAAP Season 86 women’s volleyball tournament.
The Silay City, Negros Occidental-native tallied 25 excellent sets and eight points on five aces and three attacks during UST’s come-from-behind win against Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws last Sunday.
According to the former Living Stones International School standout, she was glad to have delivered for the Golden Tigresses after struggling in the first two sets of the contest.
“Sobrang thankful din ako na nandyan [teammates ko] for me kasi nung first and second sets, medyo nawawala ako. Ang tagal kong uminit, kumbaga. Sinabi ko talaga sa sarili ko na bumawi ng third, fourth, and fifth sets,” Carballo said.
Carballo was the second Golden Tigresses player to take home the weekly citation after rookie Angeline Poyos was named Player of the Game in the first week of the tournament.
Despite the Golden Tigresses’ current 4-0 win-loss slate, the Negrense playmaker states that their performance is still far from the standard that they and the coaching staff wanted.
“Ang dami pa naming kailangang i-polish talaga. ‘Di pa namin naaabot ‘yung standard na gusto namin at gusto ng coaches. ‘Yun pa rin po ‘yung tina-trabaho namin araw-araw,” Carballo said.
Aside from the Lady Tamaraws, the Golden Tigresses’ other wins came from tough teams National University Lady Bulldogs, University of the East Lady Warriors, and defending champions De La Salle University Lady Spikers.
The Golden Tigresses remaining schedule to close the first round of eliminations are against lower-seed teams Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles, University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, and Adamson University Lady Falcons.
“First thing, ang una naming tinuturo sa kanila is rumespeto ng kalaban regardless kung sino ‘yung nasa harap namin,” said UST head coach Emilio Reyes said. “Kung papaano kami nagre-ready dun sa mga naging kalaban namin before, ganun din ‘yung gagawin namin sa upcoming games namin.”/PN
