UAAP: Almadro says Ateneo ‘has to be confident’

MANILA — Building their collective confidence is a priority for Ateneo de Manila University as it seeks to regain its winning ways in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament.

The Blue Eagles suffered their second loss of the season on Sunday, when they fell in straight sets to archrival De La Salle University, 16-25, 20-25, 13-25. It is their 11th straight defeat to the Lady Spikers dating back to Season 79.

“Unfortunately, hindi nagsabay-sabay ‘yung confidence ng bawat isa,” said Ateneo coach Oliver Almadro after his team fell to 1-2 in the competition. 

“I guess we have to work on the continuous confidence [na] nakukuha through tuloy-tuloy na repetition. I guess we have to do more on the things na kulang ‘yung confidence namin,” he added.

“I’m sure we’ll bounce back.”

The Blue Eagles could not match La Salle’s firepower on Sunday, producing just 27 kills to 49 for the Lady Spikers. Indeed, the tandem of Angel Canino and Jolina dela Cruz had more attacks combined than the entire Ateneo team, with 31. 

They played a relatively clean game with just 14 errors, but struggled to defend La Salle at the net and on the floor. 

Almadro, who has been under fire from his team’s fanbase for his tactics and coaching style, believes that the Blue Eagles have the capacity to contend but they must first work on their self-belief.

“Kailangan magsabay-sabay ‘yung confidence ng bawat isa, kasi bumabalik na ‘yung iba, [pero] ‘yung iba naman, bumababa ulit,” he explained. “We have to be confident as a team.”

“Let’s not focus sa sarili. Sabi ko nga, if you play for yourself, you could be great, but if you play for bigger things than yourself, mas mabubuo pa namin confidence namin. We’ll work on it. We’ll work on it,” he added.

Ateneo will play Far Eastern University (1-2) on Wednesday with Almadro hoping that their experience against the Lady Spikers will serve them well. The Lady Tamaraws have lost back-to-back games to the University of Santo Tomas and Adamson University. 

“Lagi kong sinasabi, great teams will always push us forward,” said Almadro. “Hopefully, we can bounce back [against] the other teams.” 

“Many people will say, process, process pa rin, [na] we need results. But sometimes, results are a process also,” he added. “You just have to keep moving, undoing the things we need to do, especially inside the court.”

UAAP Season 85 is streaming on iWantTFC every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, available for Premium users outside the Philippines.