Sta. Lucia not giving up in seeking elusive first win

MANILA, Philippines – Sta. Lucia vowed to keep on fighting in pursuit of its first victory in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference.

Lady Realtors’ head coach George Pascua said he’s glad to see traces of improvements in his squad, especially in previous match where it pushed unbeaten Petron to the limit in the second set before absorbing a straight-set loss.

In that match, Jeanette Villareal and Souzan Raslan provided the offensive spark while Jhoanna Maraguinot delivered some key hits that scared the Blaze Spikers in the second set.

But the maturity wasn’t simply there.

Veteran Aiza Maizo-Pontillas and middle blockers Remy Palma and Mika Reyes asserted their dominance in the third set to power the Blaze Spikers to another convincing win.

Still, Pascua liked what he saw.

“Compared to our first match against them, our game improved a bit,” said Pascua, the architect of Petron’s clean sweep of this conference three years ago.

“It was such a huge morale-booster for the team.”

This conference has been very challenging for the Lady Realtors.

They have yet to win in eight matches and the absence of top scorer MJ Philips and Chin Basas added to their woes.

Philips, who is nursing an Achilles tendon injury, is no longer expected to return as well as Basas, who has yet to secure a clearance from her doctors.

“They won’t return based on our latest medical update,” Pascua said.

“But I told the team that we should be ready for anything. We have to be ready to accept any improvement and lessons that we can absorb. They have to take control of themselves, especially the emotional aspect of their game.”

If they do this, Pascua believes that the victory will soon follow.

“The skills are there. All they need to do is to have the self-esteem, proper mindset and believe that they are capable of winning.”