LA SALLE found more than just a sparkplug in 5-foot-9 middle blocker-turned-spiker Shane Reterta.
In the Lady Spikers’ most important match of UAAP Season 87 yet, they could’ve easily just relied on their two leading scorers and MVP contenders in Angel Canino and Shevana Laput.
For their part, they delivered as always, with Canino dropping 22 and Laput dishing out 21.
But in the fifth-set tiebreak against the very game Lady Falcons, La Salle ultimately won after unleashing an unlikely weapon and finding an unsung hero in the rookie from Bethel Academy and California Academy.
READ: Canino wills La Salle past Adamson, another Nitura 30-piece
Reterta's nine-point output was split in the fourth and fifth sets — five in Set 4 and four in Set 5.
"Hangga’t makakaya ko po, kung ano po yung malalabas ko para sa team, gagawin ko po," she exclaimed.
In turn, her breakout game was very much welcome for Canino and all of the green-and-white.
“Sobrang thankful din kasi kahit senior kami, kahit isa kami sa mga leaders sa court, nakita talaga namin kay Shane yung tapang. Wala 'kong nakitang takot pagpasok niya,” said their skipper-slash-former MVP.
Shane jolts La Salle back to life
Reterta was not only a scoring sparkplug. She restored the winning energy of the Lady Spikers.
“Pagpasok niya, ngiti lang siya, which is sometimes, yun din yung lacking sa’min. Kapag nara-rattle na kami, we had to remind ourselves na ngumiti lang at gumalaw. Si Shane nagbigay sa’min nung crucial point. Talagang nakita rin namin na gusto niyang dalhin ‘tong team na ‘to sa panalo, which is nagawa niya,” said Canino.
Laput added: “[Shane is] a breath of fresh air, really. When she came in, we just knew that she’s got our back.
“This generation that’s coming about, Shane is one of those people who are coming in from this new generation, whether you’re a rookie — same with Shaina [Nitura] — or you’re an ate, everyone can step up and anyone can be a game-changer.”
Reterta really did change the game for La Salle when it mattered most — and in the process, she may have just saved the Taft towers’ championship hopes.
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