UST just wanted it more, and did what they needed to do to get the win.
For whatever reasons, the Lady Spikers started off flat and gave up the first 2 sets rather tamely, found some spunk in the 3rd, then relapsed into the mental errors to give up the much coveted twice-to-beat advantage.
The slow starts are the first and possibly most significant factor against a good opponent. Letting the other team get the momentum first is a sure-fire prescription for a tough game, because it allows them to build their confidence and lets them believe they can win. And it gets their crowd going, and in UST’s case, their crowd is able to energize the Lady Tigresses. I don’t know what’s behind our slow starts, whether it’s nerves, lack of concentration, or what. But it makes the game unnecessarily more difficult for the team.
There’s a noticeable lack of the can-do mentality when the game is tight. It’s as if the individual players are waiting for one of their teammates to step up instead of them deciding to personally take control of the game. Last year, KKD, Majoy and Dawn were reliable and delivered in the crunch, but now that they’re gone, it seems that the players are looking for someone to step in their shoes instead of just taking charge themselves. So even at this very late stage of the tournament we still see balls dropping between our players, our net defense having holes that the UST spikers were able to either power through or float drop shots behind the blockers with no coverage.
That’s another 2-game losing streak they started, and hopefully it’s going to be the last loss of the season, that is, if they really learned their lessons well. There’s no more margin for error. The team will have to take it upon themselves, individually and as a team, to take control of the game. Early. Otherwise it will be the earliest exit in recent memory.
They can do it. They just have to want it enough.
Originally posted at Archerpride.com