The team managed to contend for a title, after all.
For a team as successful as the seven-time champion NU Lady Bulldogs, there’s probably nothing more stinging than a bridesmaid finish against the UST Growling Tigresses in the UAAP Season 86.
After dominating the competition for close to a decade, the Lady Bulldogs could only watch as the Tigresses hoisted what could have been NU’s eighth championship trophy.
Still, coach Aris Dimaunahan was still proud of his wards who put in the work day in and day out since the start of training camp for the season.
“Obviously not the result we wanted today but I thought the game was already in the ropes during the fourth quarter [and] we kinda let it slip away,” he said after the 71-69 loss in Game 3 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“But I’m also proud of how our team since day one put in the effort to try to improve ourselves individually and as a group.”
Losing doesn’t mean the Lady Bulldogs weren’t successful, according to Dimaunahan. Besides, after all they’ve been through, the team managed to contend for another title.
“That doesn’t mean we’re not successful. Because somewhere along the way, a lot of things happened to this team. We still managed to show up daily in practice and during competition days, wanting to get those wins but we fell short today,” he said.
As stinging as this defeat was, this only made the Lady Bulldogs hungrier as ever. For now, they are going to lick their wounds and gear up for another championship run next season.
(CF)