MANILA, Philippines — The surprising three-set loss against the Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws in the UAAP women’s volleball Final Four served as a wake-up call for the National University Lady Bulldogs, head coach Norman Miguel said.<\/p>\n
NU drew first blood in the best-of-three series against the University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses on Saturday in straight sets, 25-23, 25-20, 25-20.<\/p>\n
Miguel, after the game, said the earlier upset against the fourth-seeded FEU squad lit the team up.<\/p>\n
“When we lost in that Game 1 [against the Lady Tamaraws], it really served as a wake-up call for us,” he told reporters in Filipino.<\/p>\n
“It was a wake-up call that we just can’t relax. We will lead to nowhere if we did not work for it,” he added.<\/p>\n
Against the Tigresses, NU showed its might, unleashing 47 attack points and scoring seven markers off blocks.<\/p>\n
The team also capitalized on the injury sustained by UST star Angeline Poyos, who went out of the game in th e middle of the second set due to a sprained ankle. She did not return.<\/p>\n
“Now, we are happy because things are working out. It was really a wake-up call.”<\/p>\n
NU will try to recapture the championship they last won two seasons ago on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.<\/p>\n
Last season, they were dethroned by the La Salle Lady Spikers.<\/p>\n
“That was actually our peptalk in the dugout before warming up, they already know h ow it feels to be in the finals. They know how it feels, so they know what to do,” the mentor said.<\/p>\n
“They are familiar because they experienced [going to the finals] already.”<\/p>\n
MANILA, Philippines \u2013 The UST Golden Spikers had the NU Bulldogs\u2019 number in UAAP Season 86, sweeping their elimination round encounters, 2-0, heading into their best-of-three finals series on Saturday.<\/p>\n
But in their most important matchup of the season, the Bulldogs were able to turn the tide, taking Game 1 of the finals in straight sets, 25-17, 26-24, 25-19, and looking head and shoulders above the No. 4 Golden Spikers that eliminated top seeds FEU.<\/p>\n
The biggest factor that changed after the first two games was that NU finally had wing s piker Buds Buddin in action, after the sophomore hitter missed out on their elimination round encounters due to injury.<\/p>\n
Now healthy and back in the lineup, Buddin made sure to make his presence felt when it mattered the most \u2013 scoring 16 points in the pace-setting victory.<\/p>\n
After the match, NU head coach Dante Alinsunurin underscored the Mindanaoan\u2019s role especially in clutch moments.<\/p>\n
\u201cTumaas talaga [yung laro namin] in terms of atake namin, every time na may mga crucial point kami na kailangan namin ng puntos, andoon siya. Kaya siguro yun ang naging lamang namin sa UST,\u201d Alinsunurin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDati kasi, before, nung nakalaban namin sila talagang medyo pagdating ng mga end na ng set, dun kami nagkakaproblema. Kaya ngayon, siguro, mas nagustuhan namin yung naging performance ni Buddin, kasi every time na may crucial point, andoon siya sa loob ng court,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Alinsunurin needed a game-changer, especially in the second set, where they staved off UST before they could tie the match at 1-1.<\/p>\n
For Buddin\u2019s part, he said he was simply eager to make up for lost time. But with the help of his seniors, he was able to get himself together and avoided being overzealous under the bright lights of the finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cActually dumating ako sa point na parang \u2018di ako mapakali kasi sobrang excited ako na hindi ko alam bago pumunta ng game,\u201d said Buddin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYung naging mindset ko na lang is sila kuya kasi kapag nasa loob ako ng court, lagi nilang sinasabi sa akin na \u2018wag kang manggigil, \u2018wag kang manggigil\u2019 and nung game na, unti-unti ko ng nakuha yung momentum, ayun tuloy tuloy na,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Buddin will hope to be a finisher anew when they take on the biggest challenge of the season when they try to close out the UST Golden Spikers in Game 2 on Wednesday, May 15, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MANILA, Philippines — The surprising three-set loss against the Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws in the UAAP women’s volleball Final Four served as a wake-up call for the National University Lady Bulldogs, head coach Norman Miguel said. NU drew first blood in the best-of-three series against the University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses on Saturday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[596],"class_list":["post-2571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Sports","tag-NULADYBULLDOGS"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}