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MANILA – La Salle’s veteran outside hitter Cyd Demecillo will have to take on an even bigger role for the Lady Spikers if they hope to win Game 2 of the UAAP Season 77 women’s volleyball Finals and extend their season, says analyst Noreen Go.
Demecillo was the lone La Salle player to score in double digits in Game 1, tallying 10 points in her team’s straight sets loss at the hands of defending champion Ateneo that put the Lady Eagles on the brink of a second straight championship.
But her point production was not enough for a team missing the services of injured team captain Ara Galang.
“My opinion about the game was that somebody should step up in the absence of Ara Galang, and La Salle needs somebody that they can look to for emotional strength, for them to believe in themselves again,” said Go on Wednesday’s “The Score.”
“For me, Cyd Demecillo is that player, and they have to go to her more. She has to dominate for La Salle. Not just 10 points – she has to be scoring in the 18-20 (point range) and I believe she can do it,” she added.
Another veteran, Mika Reyes, had a quiet game for the Lady Spikers, but Go points out that it was difficult for the middle hitter to get her usual point production because of La Salle’s poor service reception.
“We have to break down the game of La Salle, and their service reception was missing. I saw (setter Kim) Fajardo really scramble – she was all over the place,” said Go.
“We all know what a good setter she is, (but) she can only do so much if you have a misreceive or if your reception is not very good,” she explained. “And Mika Reyes is a quicker. You can’t really go to your main gun in a quicker if you have bad service reception.”
“Hence, Mika Reyes (only had) four points because they are not able to capitalize on her presence in front, because the service reception wasn’t there.”
La Salle was among the top receiving and digging teams at the end of the elimination round, but their numbers were inflated by the presence of Galang, who aside from scorinng 17 points per game, was also an excellent floor defender and blocker.
Without Galang to carry the load on offense, La Salle had coach Ramil de Jesus tried a variety of players, including youngsters Christine Soyud and Mary Joy Baron.
“They’re freshmen,” Go said of the two players. “It’s their first time to face this situation, a grand arena, a grand game in the Finals, and hat’s off to them because they did very well. But they can only do so much, and Coach Ramil is still looking for that player to fill in the gap that Ara Galang left.”
Already without Galang, La Salle will also be playing without Camille Cruz, who suffered an ACL injury as well stemming from a bad fall late in the third set.
Yet Demecillo says the Lady Spikers are not losing hope even though they are facing another do-or-die situation.
“May pag-asa pa, s’yempre,” she told reporters after Game 1. “Kailangan talaga namin ng double effort para sa Sabado, ready kami kung ano ang mangyayari.”
“Magwo-work kami, magwo-work talaga, kasi wala naman kaming aasahan kundi sarili lang talaga namin,” she added.
This story was republished with permission from ABS-CBNNews.com
