REIGNING champion National University learned its lesson the hard way following its stunning four-set loss to Davao, 20-25, 28-30, 25-14, 30-32, in the Shakey's V-League Season 11 First Conference at The Arena in San Juan on Thursday.
The loss was a bitter pill to swallow for the Lady Bulldogs of coach Ariel dela Cruz, who nonetheless accepted the fact that losing is part of the game and that there is greater lesson to be learned following the defeat.
De La Cruz admitted the Lady Agilas deserved the win.
“Talo talaga kami,” admitted dela Cruz. “'Yung kalaban naghihintay ng mali namin, eh talagang marami kaming mali.”
“Ang kalaban matiyaga, kami hindi matiyaga,” he added.
Dela Cruz was honest enough in saying the Lady Bulldogs became 'overconfident' and 'underestimated' their opponents.
“Naging overconfident at nag-underestimate kami ng kalaban,” he said.
Although the Lady Agilas had one more turnover than the Lady Bulldogs (34-33), it was a setting error by Ivy Perez in the fourth set that clinched the win for Davao, which ended the four-game winning run of the defending champions.
“Mahirap tanggapin na natalo kami doon (sa game), pero no excuses, talo talaga kami,” said dela Cruz.
NU will now turn its sights to the quarterfinals, the coach said.
“Sa quarterfinals trabaho pa. Kahit sino ang kalaban namin, never underestimate,” added the Lady Bulldogs coach.
The schedule for the next round however, is not yet available pending the results of the remaining games in the elimination round.
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