MANILA, Philippines – For the first time this season, the De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Spikers pulled through in the 3rd set on Saturday, March 10. 

In the first round, head coach Ramil de Jesus lamented that the Lady Spikers have a tendency to let their guard down in the 3rd set after seeing themselves take the first two sets. (READ: DLSU Lady Spikers still not back 100%)

Even until their last first round game against Ateneo, the Lady Spikers had to play catchup with the Lady Eagles as they pulled off a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to tie the score at 21-all in the 3rd. However, the Lady Eagles bested their efforts in a 26-24 close out of the set.

For de Jesus, it seemed so different, yet satisfying to see the Lady Spikers take control of the 3rd set in the Saturday’s game against the top seed National University Lady Bulldogs. 

“Well, first time namin na two sets ahead tapos sa 3rd set kami naman ang lumayo. Parang kakaiba sa amin ito ngayon na after namin makuha ang first two sets eh dire-diretso ang performance ng mga bata hanggang sa 3rd set. Happy naman ako para doon,” said de Jesus. 

(Well, it’s the first that we’re two sets ahead then in the 3rd set, we were the ones who pulled away. Like it’s so different now that after we took the first two sets, the performance of the kids continued until the 3rd set. I’m happy for that.) 

De Jesus still admitted that the Lady Spikers had a slow start and it was only midway in the first two sets that DLSU exploded with identical 9-2 runs to nab the lead. However, because of that effort, the Lady Spikers earned the “rare” praise of de Jesus. 

“Ang maganda kasi nandon naman talaga ‘yung kapit, kahit noong Ateneo game, medyo malayo na ang score ng Ateneo pero kapag gusto nilang kumapit, kumakapit talaga,” said de Jesus. 

(What’s nice there is that the hold was there, even during the Ateneo game, the score of Ateneo was a bit far but if they want to hold on, they do hold on.) 

Kim Dy starred for the Lady Spikers for the second straight game, tallying 14 points which included 3 aces. 

Dy recalled that during their one week of training after their victory over Ateneo, there was added motivation as they really wanted to defeat a team whom they lost to in the first round. 

“One week ‘yung training namin so may added motivation na: ‘uy natalo tayo dito sa first round.’ So siguro naging motivation din namin ‘yun coming into this game. Syempre naging tatak ng La Salle na kapag natalo, babawi kami,” said Dy. 

(Our training was one week so there was already added motivation: ‘hey, we lost to them in the first round.’ So I guess that became our motivation coming into this game. Of course, it became the brand of La Salle that if we lose, we’ll make it up for it.) 

The Lady Spikers will be squaring off against the University of the Philippines Lady Maroons on Wednesday, March 14, at the Filoil Flying V Centre, who like them, notched two wins in their last 3 games. – Rappler.com