Following its loss to the University of San Carlos (USC) in Game 1 of the Cesafi women’s volleyball finals last weekend, many would expect the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) to make some major adjustments going into Game 2 today at the University of Southern Philippines Foundation gym.
But the Lady Jaguars aren’t going to.
“We will stick to the game plan we had during Game 1,” USJ-R head coach Norvie Labuga said.
The Lady Jaguars lost the Game 1, 22-25, 25-14, 18-25, 19-25, and are facing a do-or-die match against the Lady Warriors coached by their former coach Grace Antigua.
Labuga, who, ironically, was the coach of the same USC team that finished fourth last year, is confident of the game plan he has prepared against the Lady Warriors in this championship round.
He said the only thing the team needs to do is follow the plan to perfection.
“We practiced the same game plan for this Game 2 but with much better executions,” Labuga said.
Antigua, on the other hand, wants her Lady Warriors to work on their first touch to give them a better chance of ending a long title drought. The last time USC won the title was in 2012, under the coaching of Labuga.
“There’s still something lacking. We still have to work on our first touch,” said Antigua after winning in Game 1.
She also said that some of her players still lack the confidence when in court, and this is something she will have to fix before going for the kill.
She did commend her team, though, for the improved services in Game 1, saying this helped pull off the win.
Meanwhile, defending champion Southwestern University (SWU) Phinma Cobras look to finish off the University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers in Game 2 of the men’s finals at 1:30 p.m.
The women’s finals will start at 3:30 p.m.
Both games will be broadcast live on Cebu Daily News’ Facebook page through the efforts of the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) production crew.