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MANILA, Philippines – Despite being undefeated this UAAP season, riding a 6-game winning streak against their chief rivals, Alyssa Valdez and the Ateneo Lady Eagles are not taking the DLSU Lady Spikers for granted.
Valdez, the league’s reigning two-time MVP, and her Lady Eagles close their first-round campaign against the team they beat in the last two finals on Saturday, February 27.
“Definitely, we always say La Salle really has a good system,” said a complimentary Valdez after ADMU swept UE in straight sets on Wednesday, February 24.
“They’re really prepared every time they go in a game, every time, and they’re going to go back to their system kahit ano mangyari (no matter what happens).
“Whether they’re down or up, they really have that standard that they really, through the years, have a polished system,” Valdez added in Filipino.
La Salle will enter the anticipated game on Saturday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum owning a 4-1 record, with NU as the only team to have defeated them thus far.
The last time the Lady Spikers tasted victory against the Lady Eagles was back in Game 2 of the 2014 Finals, which was also the last time Ateneo lost a UAAP match. It’s been on a 24-game winning streak since, spanning nearly two years.
“We’re going to have a tough time and he’s (Ateneo head coach Tai Bundit) going to do his job of assisting us, so that we’re guided with what we need to accomplish on Saturday,” said Valdez, whose Lady Eagles have lost only one of 19 sets this season despite the graduation of ace libero Denden Lazaro.
Although its rivalry with Ateneo has been one-sided of late in favor of the latter, La Salle is still going to enter the upcoming match confident and with the belief that they are better than last season, according to veteran Mika Reyes.
Does Valdez see the same improvement in the Lady Spikers?
“I [don’t have the] right perspective to say that, I guess, because I don’t coach,” said the Ateneo superstar. “I really don’t know what’s the fluidity or something like that.”
“I need to focus on being a player, on being a teammate, and to also help the team,” she added.
Valdez did note the intensity that always surrounds Ateneo-La Salle games. “It’s Ateneo-La Salle. The game’s different when it’s Ateneo-La Salle, so let’s see what’s going to happen on Saturday.”
With 2016 being her last year, she’s also aware the remaining Ateneo-La Salle games she will be in are numbered. Saturday’s contest will be the first of the final two, unless both teams meet in the championship round a fifth straight time.
“Well it’s definitely a factor, but…I’m not thinking this is [one of] the last. I’m just taking my time. I’m really, I think, making the most out of the few months that I’m getting,” she said.
“It’s another game, it’s another game for us,” Valdez added. “We don’t really need to not think it’s a big game, but it’s another game. It’s the last game of the first round, so it’s really huge.” – Rappler.com
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