Lerma Giron celebrated her double victory with the UST Golden Tigresses and the Galeries Tower Highrisers in the past 24 hours of UAAP and PVL action.
It was a whirlwind 24 hours for Lerma Giron, and she couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.
Giron, who serves as an assistant coach for the UST Golden Tigresses and as head coach of the Galeries Tower Highrisers, celebrated back-to-back wins in different leagues.
UST pulled off a hard-fought five-set triumph over DLSU Lady Spikers in UAAP Season 87 at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday, February 26.
On the next day, tenth seed Galeries Tower stunned the heavily favored and third-ranked Cignal HD Spikers in the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference qualifying round at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig on Thursday, February 27.
Giron’s coaching marathon started with UST’s five-set battle the night before. With barely enough time to recover, she had to quickly shift her focus to Galeries Tower’s crucial PVL qualifying round match.
“Actually, natapos kami do’n, nakaalis kami sa MOA ng nine o’clock,” Giron recalled during the post-game press conference. “May mga injuries pa, tinawagan ko pa ‘yung PT para malaman kung sino ang cleared maglaro. Pinag-isipan talaga namin kung sino ang tamang tao na makakatulong sa game.”
As fate would have it, the Highrisers pulled off the biggest upset yet in the conference, advancing to their first-ever quarterfinals berth.
But beyond the historic win, the match was a special one for Giron as she faced off against Cignal’s head coach, Shaq Delos Santos, who is also part of the UST coaching staff.
“Of all the teams, kaibigan pa namin ‘yung coach na kasama ko sa kabilang trabaho,” Giron said during the post-game press conference. “Sobrang all respect sa Cignal at sa coaches talaga, grabe ‘yung sistema nila. Ang tibay ng sistema nila.
“Marami mang nawala, pero nasa top three sila. So much respect for coach Shaq, coach [Romnick] Rico, and the rest of the coaching staff. Mga loves ko ‘yang mga coaches na ‘yan,” she added.
But coming into the match, Giron saw something different in her team’s mindset during training.
“Kita ko sa kanila ‘yung grit, ‘yung passion,” she said. “So I was very positive this day. Ang in-expect ko lang talaga ay lalaban kami sa five sets. Pero more than that, God gave us more than what we deserved. So thank you, Lord, talaga.”
[ALSO READ: Alyssa Eroa gets emotional after Galeries Tower’s stunning PVL qualifying round upset vs. Cignal]
For Giron, Galeries Tower’s win was more than just an upset as it served as a testament to the team's perseverance.
“It's a milestone for us—for the team, for the players, for the coaches. Sobrang grateful lang ako,” she shared. “Since Day 1, nandun ‘yung tiwala ko sa mga players na kinuha ko, kahit wala kaming big names o volleyball stars. Ang goal talaga namin is magtrabaho as a team.”