TOTS Carlos was far from satisfied in her first game back from injury despite leading University of the Philippines to its first win in the 2018 Philippine Superliga Collegiate Grand Slam.
Returning from a stress fracture on her shin that sidelined her for six months, Carlos unloaded 17 points built on 11 kills, five blocks and an ace to carry UP past UE, 22-25, 25-16, 25-22, 31-29, on Saturday at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
But the Lady Maroon skipper, who also had a great defensive effort with 14 excellent digs out of 20 attempts, was not satisfied on her return.
“Coming from my injury, based sa laro ko sobrang hindi ako satisfied kasi yun nga, nag-training ako for this. Pero I’m taking it slowly naman kasi part of recovery pa rin naman itong game na ‘to,” said the 5-foot-8 wing spiker.
The 20-year-old said that the reason is because she wanted more from herself but she doesn’t want to rush her way on regaining her strong form.
“Siguro masyado lang rin akong nag-eexpect sa sarili ko like kung anong meron ako, gusto ko more,” Carlos said. “Sabi ng mga coaches ko, hinay-hinay lang, wag ako magmadali, marami pa naman kaming time.”
UP head coach Godfrey Okumu was convinced on how Carlos played her first game back from her injury and even the best is yet to come, he wants his ward to take her time in getting back on track.
“I’m not expecting anything for now. I can only say welcome back. Everything takes time. She played well, she gave her best, whatever she says,” Okumu said. “But I think, I still believe she can do more. She’s just coming back into the game after six months or so.”
“We expect everything will take time but so far so good. I believe her defense, passing, everything was up to where she has trained. She needs to just work some more,” he added.
The spiker from Lubao, Pampanga added that she didn’t have a hard time jelling with her teammates, especially the rookies, as she already trained for a month with them.
“Yung team naman namin, nagttraining naman talaga together. So iba iba yung naglalaro, iba iba yung nag-six versus six, so yung chemistry ng team, okay naman talaga,” she said.
Nevertheless, Carlos is just grateful to play in a major league after her injury as part of her build-up for UAAP Season 81 and all she can promise — even she is still patiently recovering — is to give her best every game and help her team cop another gold.
“Siyempre very important kasi at least may experience na malaking liga after my injury. Opportunity talaga ito,” she said. “(My goal is to) play my best and siyempre goal naman ng lahat yung championship.”
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