UST head coach Emilio “Kung Fu” Reyes is confident the team’s rookies will bounce back after the UST Golden Tigresses opened their UAAP Season 85 campaign with a five-set loss against De La Salle University on Sunday.
Reyes said he was satisfied with the performance of UST’s rookies in their debut despite their heartbreaking 20-25, 25-16, 8-25, 25-15, 14-16 loss.
“All in all, we are happy sa rookies namin,” Reyes said in the post-game presser. “Nakapag-contribute sa ball si Regina (Jurado), at si (Renee) Peñafiel naramdaman namin. Si Pierre (Abellana) first time ginamit at nag-deliver.”
Looking ahead, Reyes said he expects the team’s young players to develop mental toughness after the loss to help them shake off “rookie jitters.”
“Kailangan namin alamin kung ano ang nararamdaman nila,” he said. “I think [the loss was] not more on the skill; it’s more sa mental aspect. So sa susunod na ensayo namin, ayun ang tatamaan namin.”
The Tigresses started off hot and led DLSU by nine early in the first set, 11-2.
However, UST squandered the lead and got outscored by 14 the rest of the set, allowing DLSU to go up, 1-0.
The Tigresses were dominated by DLSU in the third set in which they only scored eight points.
UST clawed back to force a deuce in the fifth set but lost after committing back-to-back errors.
The Tigresses committed a total of 32 errors in their season opener.
“All in all, sa pace ng game kami naging alanganin, at may mga opportunity na lumalagapas sa amin, yung mga nadadampot naming depensa hindi namin naco-convert sa attack,” Reyes said.
The UST Golden Tigresses will next face the FEU Lady Tamaraws at the same venue on Wednesday, March 1, at 12 noon.
