Trisha Tubu admitted she lacked aggressiveness after being limited to nine points in Adamson’s 24-26, 16-25, 22-25 loss to defending champion National University in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament on Wednesday at FilOil EcoOil Centre.
During their first-round meeting, Tubu and the Lady Falcons pushed the Lady Bulldogs to their limits before falling short in five sets. But in their Round 2 collision, Adamson failed to answer a revitalized NU, led by Bella Belen’s 20-point game.
Tubu, who was the league’s Top 3 scorer with a total of 134 points and sixth Best Spiker with a 35.19% attack rate before the Holy Week break, was limited to just nine points, hitting only eight of her 30 spike attempts
The super rookie took the blame for not playing aggressively but she vows to bounce back.
“I think I lost my aggressiveness,” said Tubu in Filipino.
“But I will bounce back in our next game,” she added with a smile.
Tubu believes they also lacked communication inside the court, leading to the end of their three-game winning streak falling to a triple tie with NU and idle University of Santo Tomas at 7-3.
“We lacked communication and enjoyment inside the court. That’s why, unfortunately, we lost,” she said. “The whole team also lacked the aggressiveness in attacking.”
Despite the tough loss, Tubu said the Lady Falcons remained optimistic that they will get their act together in their last four games in the elimination round.
“[The atmosphere at the dugout] was normal because our team is solid win or lose. We’re still happy and noisy because we know that we will bounce back in our next games,” Tubu said. “Coach also told us that it’s okay because he believes that we will make up for this loss in our next matches.”
Adamson battles the winless University of the East (0-10) on Saturday at Philsports Arena before facing the top seed La Salle on April 19.
“Our mindset is always to give our best. Coach [Jerry Yee] also keeps on reminding us that as long as we can get the win, let’s grab the opportunity. We can’t be contented with our current ranking,” said Tubu.