MENESES' TRIUMPHANT IN UAAP RETURN AFTER CREAMLINE'S 5-SET LOSS

MANILA, Philippines — In the span of 24 hours, coach Sherwin Meneses found himself on the receiving end of a tough loss and a dominant win.

Meneses' Creamline Cool Smashers tasted their first defeat at the 2025 PVL All-Filipino Conference in a brave fight that fell short against the PLDT High Speed Hitters, 28-30, 21-25, 25-23, 25-18, 14-16 at the Ynares Center in Antipolo on Saturday, February 15.

Then, in his UAAP return, Meneses guided the defending champs NU Lady Bulldogs to a rousing 25-23, 25-21, 25-18 sweep of the De La Salle Lady Spikers in the UAAP Season 87 women's volleyball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday.

"Yesterday night, we didn't have a bad game, it's just that we had lapses in the fifth set," said Meneses.

"Preparing for this game is pretty much the same since it's still volleyball albeit you're guiding a different set of players. I guess it went pretty well. I might have lost yesterday but I bounced back here although we didn't really take the loss yesterday too bad."

An Adamson standout, Meneses coached the Lady Falcons from 2012 to 2016 and then the Arellano Chiefs in the NCAA, Generika Ayala Lifesavers at the now-defunct PSL, and the Cool Smashers in the ensuing years, with the last team saw him being most successful with especially with a Grand Slam last year.

Meneses is glad to get a winning return especially against a strong La Salle program headed by the legendary coach Ramil De Jesus.

"First of all, I'm really excited because we were about to face La Salle. Second, I'm happy that we won in straight sets and the players were very responsive," said Meneses.

"I'm happy with my UAAP return. The veteran players really came to work today. They really wanted to win."

As Meneses tries to lead NU to a repeat and a third title in four years, he's banking on the proverbial 'one point at a time' approach.

"We just told the players to approach it one point at a time. Being a champion last year is already a thing of the past, the new challenge is to defend it. It's not easy," said Meneses.

"Every time we score a point, we get closer to defending the crown. So, that's going to be our simple target. Any opponent, ranked lower or higher, we're taking it one point at a time."

2025-02-17T01:06:10Z