Adamson Lady Falcons’ Shaina Nitura during a UAAP Season 87 women’s volleyball game. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
For a young player just starting her career, Shaina Nitura has shown a lot of maturity in the way she has been providing for Adamson in the UAAP Season 87 women’s volleyball tournament.
After a stellar debut where Nitura easily shattered the rookie scoring record, the school’s homegrown talent experienced her biggest challenge yet as she watched her Soaring Falcons get swept by powerhouse La Salle in their last game.
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It might be drawing from her youthful energy but Nitura looks at that obstacle as a necessary evil to help her crew be even better.
“We have to go through those kinds of things [losses] because we can’t learn if we won’t experience those challenges,” Nitura said after powering Adamson once more in a 25-20, 25-15, 25-12 drubbing of University of the East on Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena.
“If we don’t get to know loss, how will we get to know win, right?” she added after dropping 18 points out of 16 attacks, a block and an ace apart from 11 excellent digs to help the Falcons improve to a 2-1 (win-loss) record.
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The rookie Falcon has been proving her worth in their three games here showing just why she is the captain of the crew that lost a lot of talent from last season.
Brick wall
For her opening act in the collegiate level, Nitura erupted for 33 points to pull the rug from under Ateneo before Adamson hit a brick wall in the Angel Canino-led Lady Spikers, where she was limited to 16 points.
But that early challenge was welcomed by Nitura as she remained composed in trying to bring her school back to the winning column opposite the Lady Warriors.
“There was no extra motivation today. How we faced La Salle and Ateneo and how we will stand in front of the other teams we will face, it would be the same way,” she said. “Maybe if we have to improve on something from the last game, it would be the level of our hunger [to get the win].”
“We will adjust that but it’s not a reason. We should be hungry, win or lose, so we should just be consistent.”
This same maturity is what coach JP Yude saw in Nitura and what the rest of the league can see and so it’s no wonder why he has his full trust in his ace.
“No. 1 thing that I see in Shaina is her leadership. Once that gets built on her, she will grow into other things like how to handle things inside and outside the court along with her teammates,” Yude said. “She’s dominant there and even in her game.”
“As long as she becomes the right leader and example to her teammates in and out of the court with the way she handles things, especially pressure because there are a lot of expectations,” Yude added. “But I always remind her to just be herself and play the way that she really is.”