With how their previous game turned out, San Sebastian College-Recoletos head coach Roger Gorayeb was cautious to make sure his wards wouldn't commit the same mistake again when they went up against three-time defending champion Arellano University on Saturday.
The Lady Stags bounced back from their five-set loss to Mapua, carving out a 26-24, 26-24, 25-20 victory over Arellano to get back into the winning column and hand the Lady Chiefs their first loss this season.
And Gorayeb underscored that it was limiting their errors that keyed their upset win in the NCAA Season 97 women's volleyball tournament.
"Hindi dapat kami natalo nung nakaraan, problema kasi sa amin [ay] 'yung service nung nakaraan," said Gorayeb after the sweep win.
"Acceptable naman sa'kin na 'yung mga bata, sila Kat Santos, sila (Tina) Marasigan medyo nerbyusin kasi dikitan 'yung laro eh. Ang problema pati 'yung mga matatandang player namin, mas seniors sa kanila, hindi rin tumulong sa team. Sumama doon sa nerbyos ng mga bata."
"Ang daming errors eh, parang ang error namin doon 38, kung tama ang naalala ko. Service tsaka kung mga kung ano-ano pa, imagine parang isa't kalahating set na 'yon."
In their defeat to the Lady Cardinals, the Lady Stags committed 36 errors.
Today, though, San Sebastian managed to reduce that to just 27, mostly coming from the service line.
Gorayeb shared that they focused on that department during training, especially middle blocker Amaka Tan, setter Vea Sison, and Bianca Ordoña, who all poured in 100 service shots in their session.
"Ngayon, pinag-service ko nga 'tong mga 'to. 100 sila [na service sa practice] si Tan, Sison, at si Ordoña. Hindi nga dapat ini-ensayo 'yan eh, basic na 'yan eh," Gorayeb stressed.
With the win, Gorayeb hopes to see San Sebastian crack the Final Four stage as they eye to give the school its first title for the first time since 2011.
"Masaya ako kasi dahil sa pagkapanalo namin, 'yung sa tingin ko na top four teams, dalawa do'n ang talunin ko para makapasok kami. Kung 'di kami natalo do'n sa nakaraan, number four na siguro kami," added Gorayeb.
"Kasi apat 'yan eh, Perpetual, CSB, Lyceum, at tsaka 'yang Arellano. Sabihin mo na kami ang number five so kailangan dalawa dito matalo namin."
"Eh natalo na namin 'yung isa, so kailangan ko pang tumalo ng isa para maka-safety kami doon sa top four. Pero hindi namin dapat kalimutan 'yung iba pang teams na capable of winning din."
—JMB, GMA News
