De La Salle University seeks to stretch its winning run to 11 when it battles Far Eastern University (FEU) on Wednesday in the UAAP Season 88 women’s volleyball tournament at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
La Salle, which pulled off a 25-15, 25-18, 25-20 victory over University of the Philippines last March 29 to secure the first semis berth, takes on FEU at 3 p.m.
The Lady Tamaraws are coming off a 17-25, 17-25, 25-18, 17-25 loss to the University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses.
La Salle head coach Ramil de Jesus is focused on keeping his team motivated for the tougher battles ahead.
"Volleyball evolves every year, so you have to pursue whatever is there because if you don't pursue that kind of level, you'll be left behind. That's what it is for me," said de Jesus in a news release Tuesday.
"You need to, if these are your only materials, force them. Bring out the talent of the kids, and then push them; their talent, they can see it, and that's it, bring out the talent. The difficulty is because the kid only has potential, and you can't bring out the talent. If what's lacking, you have to work hard so that they can bring it out, and then to help the team," he explained.
Leading the Lady Spikers are rookie setter Shan Nunag, blocker Amie Provido, Shevana Laput and Angel Canino.
"We're focusing on one game at a time. And what we can do, change as a team and as an individual really. And that's the good thing because we can also do that... and we've applied it to our games," said Canino.
FEU ranks fourth in the standings with a 6-4 record. Defending champion National University is in second place at 8-3 followed by UST (7-4).
Meanwhile, UP (4-6) faces Ateneo de Manila University (1-9) at 1 p.m.
In the men's division, FEU eyes a twice-to-beat Final Four incentive against La Salle at 11 a.m. after the match between Ateneo and UP (3-7) at 9 a.m.
FEU has a 9-1 card followed by NU (9-2) and UST (7-4), while Ateneo and La Salle share fourth place at 5-5.
