MANILA, Philippines -- In their first game of the UAAP Season 82 women's volleyball tournament, the De La Salle Lady Spikers battled not just archrivals Ateneo Lady Eagles, but their own error-prone ways as well.

The Lady Spikers gave away 10 free points off their miscues in the opening frame, and wound up committing a total of 33 unforced errors in the match. Remarkably, they still won in impressive fashion, shrugging off Ateneo in four sets, 25-17, 17-25, 25-17, 25-15.

De Jesus was not surprised to see his players make mistakes in the game, considering that it was their first match of the tournament and that he gave four rookies major minutes.

"Sabi ko nga sa kanila, pagka ganitong first game, hindi mo maiiwasan lalo na pagka bata," he explained. "Sa training, OK, very consistent."

"Pagdating sa game, and'yan na 'yung halong kaba, tapos first time sa ganitong klase ng kalaking crowd, tapos ganito kalaking court," he added. "So hindi maialis kahit sabihin mo, 'Okay, kalma lang tayo,' or, 'Ano tayo, kailangan lang ganito, kailangan ganyan lang.'"

For all of their talent, the troika of Thea Gagate, Leila Cruz, and Baby Jyne Soreño are all just in their first years. Even sophomore Jolina dela Cruz, who emerged as one of their top scorers, was not exempt from mistakes.

The first set showed how jitters affected the Lady Spikers. Dela Cruz sent an attack wide, and committed a service error. Cruz committed hitting errors on back-to-back rallies, and also threw her serve away. Ateneo's first six points of the match all came from the Lady Spikers' mistakes.

"Wala naman may gusto na mali," said De Jesus. "(Pero) talagang lalabas, lumalabas."

What makes De Jesus proud is how his players responded to their early mistakes. Dela Cruz recovered from a shaky start to anchor La Salle's rout of Ateneo in the first set, and Cruz and Gagate both had their shining moments. Veteran middle blocker Aduke Ogunsanya shook off a poor second set to impose her will on the game in the third and fourth.

As De Jesus pointed out, the Lady Spikers refused to let their errors take their focus off the task at hand.

"Mas maganda 'yung nakagawa ka ng mali, and at the same time andoon pa rin. Hindi 'yung nakagawa ng mali pero hindi na makabalik," he said.

"So 'yun ang maganda para sa team namin, na na-test 'yung ganoon kadaming errors, pero naka-survive."

After the impressive win to start their season, De Jesus is optimistic that the Lady Spikers can just keep building on their performance.

"Mas maganda itong nakakuha ng panalo para inspired sa practice, para pagdating sa Tuesday, medyo mataas ang confidence pagdating sa Tuesday," he said.

La Salle plays UP (1-1) on Tuesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

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