She just wanted to bounce back real bad.
The NU Lady Bulldogs are back in the win column. The defending champions beat the UP Fighting Maroons, 18-25, 25-17, 25-11, 25-11, in UAAP Season 85 women's volleyball action at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday, but not without some adversity.
Aside from losing that first set, the Lady Bulldogs also played sets 2 through 4 sans star libero Jen Nierva and reigning MVP Bella Belen. Both were pulled out of the game by NU coach Ray Dimaculangan late in the first and were not fielded in the rest of the way.
Good thing the rest of the Lady Bulldogs stepped up, with Sheena Toring leading the way. A starter last season, Toring has had a relatively quiet Season 85 and sat out the first set of NU’s shock loss to the UST Golden Tigresses. But with the team’s resident stars kept on the bench, the reliable middle blocker finally broke out, firing 14 points on 6 aces to net Player of the Game honors for NU.
And it appears Toring had been waiting for this chance ever since NU’s 20-game winning streak was snapped.
“Since ‘di ako nalakaro against UST nung first set dahil sa injury ko, ginawa ko nalang motivation ‘yun na kelangan ko talaga bumawi, lalo na first six talaga ko last season,” said Toring in the post-game press conference.
But she isn’t looking too far ahead—not with the Lady Bulldogs having that proverbial target on their backs.
“Yung mindset ko talaga ngayon is dapat one step at a time lang talaga since lahat ng team ngayon gusto nila matalo kami,” added Toring, who also admitted that “andun talaga ‘yung gigil [to bounce back from a loss].”
The Lady Bulldogs got the bounce back win they were looking for, all right, and now Toring is hoping for one thing moving forward.
“Sana maging consistent pa kami.”