Belen says pressure got to Lady Bulldogs in loss vs Lady Tamaraws

MANILA, Philippines -- National University Lady Bulldogs star Bella Belen admitted that the team may have felt pressure in their straight-sets loss against the Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws on Saturday.

The top-seeded Lady Bulldogs, who won their previous seven matches in the UAAP Season 86 women's volleyball tournament, crumbled against the spirited FEU squad, committing 25 errors while allowing the Lady Tamaraws to punch in seven service aces.

The Lady Bulldogs likewise only had Belen as a double-digit scorer, finishing with 12. Vange Alinsug and Alyssa Solomon only had eight markers each.

After the game, Belen bared that she felt the team was "tense" during the match.

"The pressure, it seemed, went to us. I reminded my teammates during set 2 that we should not feel the pressure, because the pressure is on FEU. But the ending it seemed was the pressure went to us," she told reporters in Filipino.

"We did not loosen up during the game, and we did not enjoy that much, leading to miscommunications and errors. We seemed too eager," she added.

FEU, which was defeated by the Sampaloc-based squad a little over a week ago, banked on the troika of Chenie Tagaod, Jean Asis and Mitzi Panangin for the scoring punch.

Tagaod had 12, Asis had 11 and Panangin chipped in 10.

Tin Ubaldo also scored six markers and had 16 excellent sets.

"We will go back to our training, because everything starts with training. Whatever we are doing in training, that is what we will do in game," the former Rookie-Most Valuable Player said.

With these, Belen lauded FEU, saying the Morayta-based team "outsmarted" them.

"I had a feeling, even last night, that we might relax because we already defeated them in rounds 1 and 2. I just told them and reminded them not to be overconfident," she stressed.

"We are twice-to-beat, we should not have to use it or we will go to do-or-die, which happened now, but we can't change it any longer. We need to go back to our system and our hard work, look back to our goals and what we want to achieve."

The do-or-die rubber match will be held on Wednesday also at the Big Dome.