MANILA – It may be her first finals appearance in the collegiate ranks, but super rookie Angel Canino is well aware of the championship DNA of the De La Salle Lady Spikers.

And she is ready to showcase what the Lady Spikers got when they face the defending champions NU Lady Bulldogs in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball finals series, beginning on Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Canino, who is poised to win the Rookie of the Year award and is a strong candidate for the MVP plum, reiterated that their eyes are always on the championship trophy which the school last lifted five years ago.

• 'Focus lang': La Salle's Canino shrugs off MVP chants

“Sobrang laki ng bagay na yun kasi yun yung goal namin sa team and yun yung goal ng bawat isa sa amin na mag-champion hindi yung mga individual awards or kung anuman,” Canino said after the beating the UST Tigresses in the Final Four last Wednesday.

“Yung goal namin is mag-champion and after that doon namin mapapakita na ito kami. La Salle kami, kaya namin.”

Canino and the Lady Spikers emerged as the top team in the elimination round with an almost perfect record at 13-1.

They stumbled in the second round when Eya Laure powered the UST Tigresses into a four-set upset win that forced a usual Final Four format.

• UAAP: La Salle enters Finals, ousts Eya Laure, UST Tigresses

But they avenged the heartbreaking loss in the crucial part of the competition when they eked out a four-setter win against the Tigresses in the Final Four to book a spot in the finals.

“Sobrang proud lang sa team kasi alam po namin kung ano yung pinagdaanan namin para makapunta dito,” she said after pouring 19 points to lead the Lady Spikers.

This will be the second straight time that La Salle will face the NU Lady Bulldogs in the UAAP championship. NU swept the Lady Spikers last year, but La Salle won both of their elimination round meetings in straight sets.

• UAAP: Belen, Lady Bulldogs relish tougher road to Season 85 Finals

UAAP Season 85 is streaming on iWantTFC every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, available for Premium users outside the Philippines.