La Salle stays locked in on goal as Angel Canino recovers

MANILA, Philippines — With Angel Canino’s return still up in the air, Shevana Laput and the De La Salle Lady Spikers vow to keep on working in their title-retention bid in the UAAP Season 86 women’s volleyball tournament.

The reigning season MVP on Thursday entered the Mall of Asia Arena court wearing a sling in her right arm and heavily wrapped hidden under a La Salle jacket due to a cut she sustained from an unfortunate accident not related to volleyball. 

Shevana Laput stepped up with 21 points to lead the Lady Spikers sans Canino past the gritty University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, 26-24, 25-19, 24-26, 27-25, to secure at least a playoff for a Final Four berth.

READ: UAAP: La Salle’s Angel Canino has right arm injury from accident

“Definitely, there’s a need to step up. I guess there’s that pressure, but I’m glad that my team and the coaches have that trust in me,” said Laput.

“ Of course, without Angel, there’s that pressure to perform. And, that game wasn’t our best. We know as a team we can do better. Angel’s a big factor but there’s 13 of us in the team who can step up.”

With Canino’s recovery timeline still day-to-day, La Salle deputy coach Noel Orcullo reminded the players that they can deliver even without their star like what they achieved in the Shakey’s Super League National Invitationals last year when she sat out.

“We always tell the kids that we’re used to playing even without Angel like what happened in the Shakey’s Super League where we won the championship,” said Orcullo speaking for head coach Ramil De Jesus. “We have set their minds to be ready with or without Angel.

READ: UAAP: La Salle earns tough win over UP without Angel Canino

In the preseason league, Laput emerged as the MVP and led the Lady Spikers to a national title after beating Adamson in the best-of-three finals through a series comeback.

Canino cheered her teammates during the game, which inspired Laput and the Lady Spikers to win over the Fighting Maroons.

“Her being there is a motivation for sure. You know, by doing her justice, giving her peace of mind winning for her. We’re winning for her now. She can’t be on the court but she’s in our hearts,” said Laput.

“We just have to focus on one game at a time, focus on our system, and focus on how we play our game. By doing that, we really can do this. We can get the twice to beat,” she added.

La Salle is currently in second place with an 8-1 record and it has a chance to secure one of the two twice-to-beat advantages with still five matches left in the elimination round.

“We will work hard, there’s no other way to do it. We’ll just keep on doing what we’re doing in training and we’ll make adjustments if Angel won’t suit up in the next game. We’re targeting the twice-to-beat advantage,” Orcollo said.