BELLA Belen of National University is no stranger to completing an unbeaten title-winning season in UAAP women’s volleyball, having clinched Season 84 as the league’s first rookie MVP without dropping a single game.
However, after suffering three preliminary losses in Season 85 and two halfway through the ongoing season, Belen has become cautious of the potential costs of each defeat, especially as the UAAP playing field grows tougher with each passing year.
Belen: NU can't afford to lose
“I believe na hangga’t hindi namin nakukuha ‘yung goal na gusto namin (championship), hindi dapat talaga kami tumigil lalo na’t dalawa na ‘yung talo namin ngayong season. We cannot afford any (loss) na po talaga kasi mahirap na and ‘yung mga kalaban kasi, talagang competitive,” said Belen.
“Lagi ko lang sinasabi sa team na hangga’t hindi pa tapos ‘yung laro, bawal kaming huminto kasi hangga’t hindi pa 25 (points), kaya kami habulin ng kalaban. And ‘yun nga, sabi ko po na lahat ng kalaban is competitive, lahat gusto po kaming talunin. So dapat ganun din kami na maging aggressive kami.”
NU battles unbeaten UST
With a 6-2 (win-loss) record halfway through the season, NU will have its first shot at redemption right away against its formidable rivals in the season-opener — the unbeaten league-leader University of Sto. Tomas.
UST completed a first-round sweep to mark its best-ever start to a UAAP women’s volleyball tournament in the Final Four era.
Being swept by the Tigresses on the first day of their revenge tour has fueled Belen & Co. even more to rediscover their championship-winning form and consistently showcase it for the remainder of the season.
This same determination applied to their recent five-set loss to La Salle to close out the first round — a defeat that still stings for NU as the second round begins.
“Once na maunahan kami ng UST, mahihirapan kaming makahabol. ‘Yun ‘yung nangyari sa first game namin. ‘Yung UST kasi, ‘pag binigyan mo sila ng errors kapag sila kalaban mo, talagang [i-ttake advantage] nila ‘yung time na ‘ah nag-eerror sila,’ so kami dapat ‘di kami mag-error. Ganun sila eh, palaban talaga sila na dapat pagdating namin sa game namin sa UST, hindi kami ma-error. Tiwala lang sa sarili,” Belen said.
“Konting emote lang kami eh kasi hindi naman kami pwede todo emote kasi start na agad sa second round. Walang mangyayari sa’min kapag nag-sad girl sad girl pa kami. Nag-usap kami kung ano ‘yung naging kulang namin nung game, kung ano ‘yung mga dapat naming iimprove, and then sabi namin balikan na lang namin ulit ‘yung La Salle kapag sila na ulit ‘yung makakalaban namin.
“One game at a time, no to emote.”
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