Eya Laure rallies Tigresses to show Lady Bulldogs are not invincible

MANILA, Philippines — Eya Laure made sure to instill in the minds of her young teammates that University of Santo Tomas can match National University’s level in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament.

And the Tigresses showed just that as Laure led the collective effort to stun the erstwhile-unbeaten Lady Bulldogs, 25-23, 27-25, 17-25, 22-25, 15-11, on Saturday at Mall of Asia Arena.

“Nung nakita namin na nag-five set yung NU sa Adamson, parang nandun yung ‘kaya natin. Kaya rin natin.’ Tao din naman sila. Nagkakamali rin sila,” said Laure after their big win. “Kailangan namin simulan sa utak pa lang namin na kaya namin. Kaya namin ipakita kung anong sistema meron kami. Kaya yun lang sinisigaw ko na kaya namin. Kailangan lang namin magtiwala.”

(When they played in five sets against Adamson, we were thinking that we can do it. They are also humans, they also commit mistakes. We have to start thinking that we can do it, that we can show what kind of system we have. That’s why I’ve shouting to them, ‘we can do it.’ We just have to trust each other.)

LONG TIME RIVALS

Laure, who finished with 18 points off 14 kills and four blocks, including the match-winning block on Alyssa Solomon, was emotional after they finally earned a big win against the Lady Bulldogs, who have been their rivals since high school.

“I was emotional and felt goosebumps because I remember the days when the line-ups [of both teams] were still playing against each other since high school. Before we were just playing at Adamson gym. It feels good to play in front of a lot of fans, it’s a dream for both NU and UST because before we used to play inside a small arena,” Laure said in Filipino.

“Now, we were both able to show our potential in the whole country. I’m so happy because we’ve been rivals since high school. Regina (Jurado) is now part of our team as one of our homegrown talents from high school,” she added.

Laure was pleased to see their growth as a team and become the first to beat the defending champion since April 27, 2019, when she and Sisi Rondina beat the young squad, 27-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-16.

“We’re happy to see the growth of one another since high school. They are the defending champions and we want to learn from them. We studied their game and worked hard in training. As coach said, we just have to submit ourselves in training and believe in our system,” Laure said.

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