Adamson advanced to the V-League Collegiate Challenge Finals with a masterful sweep of University of the East, 25-21, 25-17, 25-20, on Saturday at the Playtime Filoil Centre.
In her second game back with the Lady Falcons, Alas standout Shai Nitura nearly produced a triple-double, finishing with 13 points, nine receptions, and 15 digs. Still, the captain was even prouder of what the team had accomplished while she watched from the sidelines.
“Happy ako kasi collectively binubuhat talaga nila ‘yung team. Bawat posisyon may ginagawa talaga and gusto talaga nilang manalo. Nagbubunga na rin ‘yung investment namin sa sarili namin: ‘yung pagod, ‘yung iyak, ‘yung hirap sa mga past tournaments namin,” Nitura said.
Adamson will face UAAP rivals University of Santo Tomas in the best-of-three Finals series, starting Wednesday at the San Juan arena. Without Nitura, the Lady Falcons beat the Tigressses in the preliminaries.
Adamson and UST last met in a Sports Vision-organized title series was in the PVL Collegiate Challenge in 2019, when the Lady Falcons, swept the Tigresses. The two UAAP rivals also crossed paths in the old V-League 2009 Second Conference Finals, which UST emerged triumphant over Adamson via two-match sweep.
Nigerian Frances Mordi once again led Adamson’s offense with 14 points, all coming from kills, while Third Tuddao and Eloi Dote added 12 and six, respectively.
Now one step away from a second straight crown, head coach JP Yude wants to see more of the team’s character when it takes on the Reg Jurado-led Tigresses in the Finals.
“One thing is talagang ‘yung application ng aming mga ginagawa sa training, on how we study the opponents and on how we apply it during the game. And then, ‘yung response talaga during pressure moments,” the concurrent high school girls’ head coach shared.
“I know the capabilities of my players, pero sa mga pressure and bad situations, do’n talaga masusukat ‘yung character nila. Yun talaga ‘yung gusto ko pang ma-develop sa kanila,” Yude added.
