BEHIND THE TACTICAL exploits of head coach Emilio “Kungfu” Reyes, the San Beda Lady Red Spikers leaned on their potent offense in extended rallies to sweep the San Sebastian College-Recoletos (SSC-R) Lady Stags, 25-21, 25-17, 25-22, in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Season 101 women’s volleyball tournament at the San Andres Sports on February 8.
In an interview, Reyes gave a chance to peek at the strategy in picking the line up, emphasizing the importance to the “coach’s eye.”
“When it comes to the game, we have final 14 players before the game. For the first six may mga main core tayo, may main core pero subject to change before the warm up may mga tinitingan kaming mga rotations— coach’s eye na yun.”
San Beda commanded the game early, edging out a 25-21 set through unwavering block outs and explosive spikes. SSC-R dwindled their forces during long rallies giving San Beda the chance of an opening to dominate the net, achieving another win of 25-17 for the second set with ease.
The Lady Red Spikers kept the upper hand into the third set, but encountered resistance halfway from reception errors against Lady Stags’ prompting a timeout. The Lady Red Spikers strengthened their strategy, tightening their defense with consistent block outs to successfully shut down Lady Stags’ attempts to spike, securing the victory at 25-22.
Team captain Angel Mae Habacon scored a match-high of 17 points, leading the Lady Red Spiker’s offense by delivering crucial points home during long rallies. Janelle Bachar contributed to the offensive output by scoring 17 points of her own.
Reyes gave importance to the team’s holistic camaraderie not only in the game plan but also in movement.
“’Yung sistema doon sa lahat ng member ng team kailangan isa lang ‘yung galaw, that’s the most important thing.Para yung uniformity,‘yung movement left to right, ‘yung up, basta ‘yung lahat ano holistic approach ‘yun.”
“Always boils down to the team movement, naka specific, naka sistema so ‘yun nga, hanggang ngayon mina-master namin,” he shared
In preparation for their next game against Mapúa University (MU) Lady Cardinals, the Lady Red Spikers plan to strengthen their discipline and transition attacks.
“Syempre ‘yung team discipline na gusto natin ma-instill sakanila, ‘yung execution, ‘yung anchor which is ‘yung systema so yun lagi ‘yung anchor ng team. Sabi nga na strength in numbers, parang all in kasi otherwise kung one or two numbers is too small to achieve the goal.”
”Mas malakas ‘yung San Beda pag kasama ‘yung buong community,” he emphasized
“Kahit hindi kaya kailangan kayanin, otherwise sayang yung pinaghihirapan natin. Overachieve natin kung ano ung mga meron pa kasi naka sistema na ‘yun, so kailangan lang maging mas maayos yung transition attack.”
(with Rozetti Jena E. De Leon)
Set Scores:
San Beda – SSC-R: 25-21, 25, 17, 25-22
Box Scores:
San Beda (3): Habacon 17, Bachar 17, Dela Cruz 11, Castillo 4, Navarro 4, Molina 2, Joniega 2
SSC-R (0): Marasigan 10, Dionisio 8, Gonzales 8, Santos 7, Deposoy 7, Ramos 4