Colegio de San Juan de Letran head coach Oliver Almadro is looking to build on the positives from their Game 1 loss to De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde and turn them into a win in Game 2 on Wednesday.
The seasoned tactician said he's happy with the way his team performed in the series opener, where they even took the opening set behind back-to-back points from rookies Nicen Colendra and Vanessa Sarie.
But Almadro stressed that lack of maturity cost them the next three sets.
"Well, it falls down to maturity. Most of my players are second year or first year and they’re first time in the NCAA finals so it really took a toll on them," Almadro said on Sunday.
"But what I told them is to have a strong character, strong mindset, and mental toughness during the endgame."
The Lady Knights have proven in the past that they can take down the powerhouse team of Benilde as shown in their 25-22, 25-23, 26-24 win over the Lady Blazers in their first round clash.
They channeled that in Game 1 of the championship round with Colendra unleashing a bullet from the opposite side before rookie sensation Sarie finished it off with a down-the-line hit on the other side as they clinched the extended 26-24 win in Set 1.
But they broke down in the endgame with the Lady Blazers just dominating from all areas led by middle blocker Zam Nolasco, who scored the last two points for the defending champions.
Almadro, though, is staying defiant that they can still recover come Game 2 and drag the Lady Blazers to a winner-take-all Game 3.
"We really have to close out sets properly. ‘Yun lang ang kailangan namin kasi I’m happy with the skills, I’m happy with the effort. ‘Yung endgame, ‘yung maturity, at ‘yung mindset, that’s what we need."
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
