University of the Philippines head coach Shaq de los Santos wants to see consistency and disciplined play from the Fighting Maroons in the second round.
Yesterday, the Fighting Maroons gave their coach a sneak peek into what they can do after completing a sweep of Pool A in the Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Pre-season Championship following a quick work of Mapua University, 25-19, 25-21, 25-11, at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
However, De los Santos rued the number of errors committed by his young squad on their way to a 4-0 win-loss record to close the group stage.
UP had 27 errors with most coming in the second set where the Fighting Maroons needed to climb out of a four-point deficit before stealing the frame.
“We can’t give away that many points off our errors. We’re going up against well-disciplined teams in the second round, we can’t afford to make those mistakes,” De los Santos said.
UP, alongside another Pool A qualifier University of Perpetual Help, is bracketed in Pool E with unbeaten reigning University Athletic Association of the Philippines champion National University and Ateneo de Manila University.
The top two squads in Pool B will join De La Salle University and Far Eastern University in Pool F.
In the second round which will begin next week, teams will play another round robin against the squads they have not faced in the first round to determine their rankings in the knockout quarterfinals.
After a tight second set, the Diliman-based squad found its rhythm early in the third frame to open a 20-6 gap that took the fight out of Mapua.
Jewel Encarnacion led UP with 13 points with 11 coming off spikes while Dannica Celis and Joan Monares delivered nine points each.
The Fighting Maroons pulled through in the error-filled second set with a late uprising to complete a comeback from a four-point deficit.
UP scattered five straight points capped by a Stephanie Bustrillo hit to turn a 15-19 deficit into a 20-19 advantage. Bustrillo broke a 20-20 deadlock with a sharp hit that sliced through Mapua’s block to spark the closing 5-1 blast.
The Lady Cardinals closed their Pool A campaign with a 1-3 card and will join the other teams who did not qualify for the second phase of pool play in the classification round starting Sunday.
