De La Salle University interim coach Noel Orcullo highly respects Adamson University’s system under new mentor Jerry Yee.

In fact, he sees the Lady Falcons as one of the biggest hurdles the Lady Spikers have to face in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament.

Unbeaten in five games, La Salle braces for an all-out war when it takes on a surging Adamson side raring to put a blemish on its clean slate on Sunday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.

The Lady Spikers march into battle at 11 a.m. in their penultimate first round assignment before wrapping up the first half of the eliminations against defending champion National University in a rematch of last season’s finals on Wednesday.

“Going into our last two games in the first round, we have to polish our movement and execution. Going up against Adamson and NU we have to address our lapses and we have to find the weakness of our opponents,” Orcullo said.

But finding Adamson’s Achilles’ heel is easier said than done.

“With Adamson, there’s a little chance for us to see their weakness,” he said.

Orcullo was particularly worried about the Lady Falcons’ teamwork and graceful fluidity inside the court led by highly-skilled setter Louie Romero.

The seasoned playmaker leads the league in setting with 5.33 excellent sets per outing, making Adamson the No. 2 team in attacks with a 34.22 percent success rate in spikes.

“They are playing solid inside the court. Their main setter is doing a great job leading the team. So, we really need to work harder. Not just double time but triple time if we want to beat Adamson,” he said.
Interestingly, the match will also be a showdown between super rookies Angel Canino of La Salle and Adamson’s Trisha Tubu.

The high school rivals who elected to stay in their respective schools in college are neck-and-neck in the Rookie of the Year race.

Canino, a La Salle-Zobel product, is averaging 15.4 points per game with Tubu close behind with 15.2 points per outing.

“We have to go all-out as a team and also individually. We have to bring out everything we have, especially we’re facing two tough opponents to end the second round,” Canino, who is no. 2 in attacking efficiency and in the top 10 in service, digs and receiving departments.

Just like Canino, Tubu will not be holding any punches when they meet on the court.

“We know they are a Final Four contender. But our goal is to execute our gameplan and show our determination to win every game,” the high-flying winger said.