Opening day loss serves as Spikers wake-up call

MANILA, Philippines - It was a perfect ending to an imperfect beginning.

As they savored the sweet taste of a third straight championship, the De La Salle Lady Spikers can’t help but think about their ill-fated opening game in UAAP Season 75 and how it spurred them to strive even harder.

The fancied Lady Spikers suffered a 25-22, 25-13, 12-25, 21-25, 15-9 setback to the University of Santo Tomas Tigresses in a huge first day upset that emboldened their rivals as they eyed the crown DLSU possessed.

“Siguro nasa vacation mode pa ang mga bata that time. Noong natalo, dun pa lang nagising, na-realize na UAAP na pala (Perhaps the girls were still on vacation mode when they played the first game. When they lost, however, they woke up and realized the UAAP campaign has begun),” said DLSU coach Ramil de Jesus.

The Lady Spikers never tasted another defeat from there and the next thing they knew, they were relishing the sweet taste of a championship.

But the road back to glory didn’t come easy. The Lady Spikers had to train furiously since then and stormed past the opposition their next 16 games, including a 2-0 sweep of Ateneo in a finals series played before huge crowds, to complete a three-peat.

“It (loss to UST) was really the wake-up call kasi (because) after that, we trained until midnight, we needed to bring back the La Salle team of old,” said back-to-back MVP and skipper Abigail Maraño.

“We turned all our hardships in training into motivation and challenge to strengthen ourselves to get ready for the big battles ahead,” she added.

Michelle Gumabao, the finals MVP, said that first loss dealt a blow to their ego and pushed them to action.

“That first loss was a lesson. Tinatak namin sa isip namin na never kaming matatalo after that (We’ve motivated ourselves that we should never lose after that,” said the 20-year-old Gumabao, who cried upon seeing her dad Dennis Roldan and the whole family at the MOA Arena to cheer for her for the first time.

The Lady Spikers put the icing to the cake with a 25-23, 25-20, 25-16 dismantling of the Lady Eagles in front of more than 18,000 fans, fashioning out a more emphatic win after a come-from-behind 20-25, 17-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-6 squeaker in Game One before a 17,000-strong crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

It was the second three-string championship for DLSU, which first pulled off the feat in Seasons 66-68. Both are under de Jesus, who have eight crowns overall for the Taft-based squad.

Asked how this three-peat differs from the previous one, de Jesus said in Filipino: “Before, there were only few watching the games but today, we’re playing at a big venue and a lot of people want to watch the games.”

As for a four-peat next season, de Jesus said he doesn’t want to think about it yet. The Lady Spikers will lose Melissa Gohing and Wensh Tiu, who have used up their playing years. Maraño and Gumabao are graduating academically but still has one more year left. Maraño has declared she will play her last year while Gumabao said she’s still undecided yet.