DETDET Pepito could not help but rue the missed opportunity for the UST Golden Tigresses to win the UAAP Season 85 women's volleyball championship last year.
Pepito, who seized the Best Libero award, believes that University of Santo Tomas (UST) really had the personnel to go all the way with Eya Laure, Imee Hernandez, as well as Pepito herself, leading the way.
But as fate would have it, the Golden Tigresses bowed to the eventual champs De La Salle Lady Spikers in the semifinals.
"Our players from last season looked really solid — Ate Milena [Alessandrini], Ate Eya [Laure], and Ate Imee [Hernandez]. I really feel that we're a very strong group. It's quite a shame that we didn't go all the way," said Pepito, who is set to play her third year in this upcoming UAAP Season 86 women's volleyball tournament.
But even with UST losing Laure and Hernandez to the pros and Alessandrini to graduation, Pepito said the current Golden Tigresses led by her and incoming sophomore spiker Regina Jurado are hungrier for this season, using that semifinals loss last year as motivation.
"This season we're hungrier because of what happened last season. We're much more motivated, especially us younger ones," said Pepito.
Jurado said that they want to prove that they can hold their ground even without their stars from last year, especially Laure, who emerged as their top scorer.
"We want to prove that we can reach something even with our current pool of players," said Jurado.
While UST enters a rebuilding phase under coach Kungfu Reyes, Pepito said that they prove to themselves that they are doing just fine, having finished third in the Shakey's Super League National Invitationals and second in the Shakey's Super League Collegiate Pre-Season Championship.
"From our previous league, which was the Shakey's tournaments, we were doing OK. We didn't have any expectations, and we played with no pressure. We saw that we can compete even without Ate Eya and company."
Jurado added: "We just have to accept that people come and go. All we have to do is adjust and train, cooperate with the new members and rebuild the team. We're not going to start from scratch anyway since we reached something. We just need to be more consistent and to improve."
