No room for complacency in Finals series, says NU coach Dimaculangan

National University head coach Karl Dimaculangan reminded his wards that there is no room for complacency in the Finals despite taking the first game of the series.

The Lady Bulldogs made short work of the De La Salle Lady Spikers in Game 1, 25-20, 25-12, 25-21, Saturday night, June 18, but Dimaculangan saw some careless actions from his players especially in the third set.

NU gained momentum after securing the first two sets, especially in the second canto where the Lady Bulldogs held off the Lady Spikers to 12 points only.

In the third frame, however, Dimaculangan was alarmed by the multiple errors and easy points given by his wards.

“Ni-remind ko lang sila na, unang-una ‘di kami puwedeng magpabagay, ‘di kami puwede magbigay ng mga free points,” said Dimaculangan.

“Finals na ‘to so ire-remind ko lang ulit sila na hindi namin puwede ulitin ‘yong ganon kadaming errors lalo na kung championship pa,” added the first-year NU tactician.

Overall, the Lady Bulldogs gave up 25 points off errors compared to the Lady Spikers’ 13.

De La Salle’s offense, however, became too passive as Leila Cruz tallied the highest score with six points.

Camilla Lamina was a key cog for NU as she tossed 20 excellent sets and which paved the way for four of her teammates to score in double-digits.

Michaela Belen and Alyssa Solomon scored 15 points apiece while Princess Robles and Ivy Lacsina had 12 markers each.

Both Belen and Solomon also echoed Dimaculangan’s sentiments and were in unison that they were far from satisfied with their Game 1 performance.

“Ngayon po ‘di pa rin po kami happy, kasi marami pa rin kaming na co-commit na errors,” said Solomon, the league’s top spiker. “‘Yong mga simpleng bagay lang, nag-error pa din kami… gagawin namin sa training, ayusin namin ‘yong mga dapat namin ayusin para next game maging ayos na po.”