Tigresses seek improvement even after 1st-round sweep

MANILA, Philippines -- Despite finishing on top of the first round of the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament, a lot of things still need to improve for the UST Golden Tigresses, team captain Bernadett Pepito said.

UST, over the weekend, completed a first-round sweep when they defeated the Adamson Lady Falcons, 25-18, 22-25, 25-15, 28-26.

This is the best start of the Tigresses in the Final Four era.

In an interview, Pepito said there are still a lot of things that are lacking for the Tigresses and there are a lot of things to improve on.

“We have a lot to improve, and we cannot be complacent even with our standing now,” she told reporters in Filipino.

“We know that there are a lot of teams who would want to exact revenge against us,” she added.

Early on in the season, the España-based squad had a shocking sweep against perennial title favorites National University Lady Bulldogs and averted a massive collapse against defending champions La Salle Green Spikers.

The Tigresses then ran through the rest of the competition to firmly secure the top spot.

“We need to have double or triple effort in training so our Round 2 will have a much better result,” the star libero added.

Setter Cassie Carballo also acknowledged that the team could lose the lead in the standings if they become complacent.

Super rookie Angeline Poyos, meanwhile, stressed that the team's lack of height against contenders remain their motivation.

"Knowing our height is not that tall, we are using it as a motivation to just rise higher and perform better in our upcoming games," she said.

UST will be starting the second round of the tourney against the Ateneo Blue Eagles on at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.