UNIVERSITY of the Philippines recovered from an ugly start to deny University of Batangas, 24-26, 25-19, 25-19, 25-20, in the Shakey’s V-League Season 12 Collegiate Conference at The Arena in San Juan on Sunday.
The Lady Maroons leaned on their rookies to clinch the win which saw them clawed back after losing the opening set.
Newcomers Maria Lina Isabel Molde led the team with 21 points anchored on 19 attacks, Justine Dorog added 18, Diana Carlos chipped in 17, and Maristela Layug contributed six.
Sophomore Marian Buitre also did her share with 10 points for the Diliman-base spikers, who forged a three-way logjam with National University and Arellano at second place in Group A.
Although the numbers put up by his rookie players were impressive, UP coach Jerry Yee wasn’t moved at all.
“Sa atin ayan talaga ang kulang sa maturity compared sa kalaban natin kanina,” said Yee. “Ang ganda ng depensa nila (UB) medyo nakalamang lang tayo ng konti sa taas ng talon.”
“Rookies 'yung nandito pinalalakas natin,” he added. “Medyo inconsistent kami probably mabigat ang katawan, probably (kulang sa) maturity, kulang pa talaga.”
Yee also berated his team for giving away 37 points to UB off the Lady Maroons’ errors.
“'Yung attention span maikli, hindi makafocus until the end of the game,” said Yee. “(Mag-uumpisa sa) konting errors, ayan nagtuluy-tuloy. It happens lalo na sa mga bata.”
Krissa Madalogdog, Kimberly Jamilla, and Cyren Montenegro each had 11 points for the Lady Bhramans, who dropped at 0-3 for a share of the cellar with Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP).