MANILA, Philippines — Despite only playing her second UAAP game against rivals Ateneo, La Salle rookie Jolina dela Cruz was more than impressive.
The Taft-based volleybelle contributed 14 points in the Lady Spikers' three-set drubbing of the Lady Eagles, including a personal scoring run in the closing third set.
But DLSU mentor Ramil de Jesus wasn't surprised in the least at the young gun's performance.
"Sa practice naman ganon si Jolina, so expected namin na kahit kalahati noon kaya niyang ibigay," de Jesus said after the game.
"Sobra sobra pa sa 50% yung binigay niya, 80-90% yung binigay niya para bumuhat sa team kanina... Alam naman natin na kaya niyang gawin yun," he added.
Dela Cruz, however, was quick to deflect credit of her performance back to the tactician.
The rookie even dedicated her game to de Jesus.
"Kay coach po kasi sa training talaga, nakikita namin yung pagod din ni Coach... Syempre po mapapagod kami sa training pero yung nagtuturo napapagod din. So para kay coach yun," dela Cruz said.
Dela Cruz proved to be a problem for the Ateneo defense, with the Katipunan-based squad's blockers left guessing.
With two more games left in elimination, the Lady Spikers will surely need more performances like these not only from dela Cruz but from the whole squad.