By Dwyane Harry L. Cabrera

Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws bowed to the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Golden Tigresses, 17-25, 18-25, 20-25, to conclude round one of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 88 women’s volleyball tournament earlier today, March 14, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

In a 10-all setting in the opening frame, the Lady Tamaraws were not able to fend off the Golden Tigresses’ nine-point blitz, 11-20.

Trying to ignite a comeback bid, Jaz Ellarina spearheaded the Morayta-based squad’s offense, but UST’s Angge Poyos wrapped up the first frame with a spike,17-25.

Replicating the start of the first set, the green-and-gold volleybelles found themselves trailing in the second set courtesy of UST’s offense and defense, 9-15.

While Faida Bakanke found her tempo to lift FEU to 16-17, their errors eventually showed and gave away the frame, 18-25.

After absorbing Poyos’ attacks, the Lady Tamaraws were down 2-7 early in the third set but fought back to seize a 15-14 lead.

However, the momentum shattered halfway through the game as the Tina Salak-led squad created six major errors that capped off the game, 20-25.

In an interview with FEU Advocate, Ellarina admits the factors that led to their loss against UST.

“‘Yung game namin ngayon, ‘yung loss namin ngayon, sa’min talaga ‘yon. More on ‘yung grit, ‘yung pagiging aggressive namin na nawala, hindi naman siya nag-relax. Hindi pa namin ma-figure out kung anong problema namin kanina bukod sa individual skills namin, parang lahat sa’min walang laro, hindi kami makapagbigay ng laro na talagang ginagawa namin. Hindi kami ‘yung usual na ganito (In today’s game, the loss was really on us. It was more about our grit, our aggressiveness was missing. It wasn’t that we relaxed. We still can’t figure out what our problem was earlier, aside from our individual skills, it's like none of us were on our game today. We couldn’t deliver the kind of performance we usually show. We weren’t our usual selves),” she said.

On the other hand, the athlete also shared how the team will adjust for the second elimination round.

“Mas mabilis na mag-adjust, mga in-game adjustments. Lahat naman kasi ng teams nag-prepare na ‘yan, may iba-iba nang strategies, so in-expect na namin na tuwing may game, mag-a-adjust talaga sila kasi during this game, may ginawa sila [UST] na hindi kami nakapag-adjust agad. So dapat lesson learned namin ngayon na dapat next round mabilis na tayo mag-adjust, mabilis na tayo mag-isip (It’s about adjusting faster, making in-game adjustments. All the teams have already prepared and everyone has different strategies, so we expect that every game they will make adjustments. During this game, UST did something that we weren’t able to adjust to right away. So that should be a lesson learned for us so during the next round, we need to adjust faster and think faster),” the Lady Tamaraw shared.

Despite the loss, Ellarina put up 10 markers with eight attacks and two blocks, while Petallo contributed nine points and 11 excellent receptions.

With their three-game winning stretch having come to an end, the Morayta-based team will look to improve their 4-3 win-loss record in the second round.

(Photo by Melvin James Urubio/FEU Advocate)