The Lady Bulldogs are looking to turn around their season.
This is probably not the kind of season the National University Lady Bulldogs were envisioning—not after their dominant, unbeaten run to the title in Season 84. And yet here they are with a 5-3 won-loss card and reeling from back-to-back defeats against a suddenly powerhouse De La Salle Lady Spikers.
The Lady Bulldogs, though, are unfazed. They are actually defiant and are vowing to make it up one way or another. At least that’s the case according to outside hitter Evangeline Alinsug, who was one of the few bright spots for NU on Saturday against La Salle.
“After po nung last loss namin nung Wednesday [also against La Salle], may dalawang araw po kami na mag-training. So, pinag-usapan po namin lahat na lahat po ng ginawa namin sa training gagawin namin ngayon,” Alinsug told the media after that game. “And napakita naman po namin, pero alam namin na may kulang pa. Alam ko na may kulang pa.”
It was a tough loss, all right, but Alinsug confidently fired a warning to the rest of the league nonetheless.
“Pero yun nga, sa susunod alam namin na babawi talaga kami,” Alinsug vowed.
NU coach Carl Dimaculangan agreed with his star outside hitter.
“We remain positive pa rin naman kahit na anong mangyari, we know pa rin na yun nga, babawi’t babawi kami. Ano lang, learning [experience] lang rin sa ‘min para makapag-adjust rin kami siguro.
But for that to happen, Dimaculangan knows there is plenty of work ahead. And one area the Lady Bulldogs will have to improve considerably moving forward is avoiding mistakes—something they could not do against La Salle on Saturday.
“Kailangan talaga namin i-correct yun [errors] kasi based sa stats namin, 31 [errors], so ang laki talaga ng diperensya, lalo na kung ganun ka-close ‘yung game and sa dulo pa kami nagkakamali. ‘Di talaga kami mananalo,” rued Dimaculangan.
The champion coach also called on his team to come together in these most trying of times.
“Kailangan namin magtulungan . . . ,” Dimaculangan said. “Kailangan talaga namin magtrabaho mabuti.”
The Lady Bulldogs still have time to turn around their sinking season. Whether they can do that remains to be seen.