“We only went over the hump of matching up to them last year and this year,” said Team Captain Raymond Escalona (IV BS HSc) regarding DLSU’s winning streak for the last three years. “Most of the La Salle players are [in the national training pool] so they’re really battle-ready.” Escalona cited belief in themselves and mental preparation as key points of improvement.
“My idea of training is playing against the best,” said Escalona. The Samsung Interscholastic Tournament, where DLSU won over-all champions, and the Canlubang Amateur Open served to fulfill their purpose. “We are concentrating to score better since we already established our fundamentals,” reports Lady Golfer Laine Lumanog (III BS CTM).
The tides turned for Team Ateneo against the College of St. Benilde last October 18 with the team bringing home a point over their competitors, breaking the one-point lead DLSU had.
Escalona and Co-Captain Ayon Sanchez (III BS Mgt-H) played for the high-low format alongside Johann See (III AB MEco) and Gab Atienza (III BSM AMF) for the best ball format.
Lumanog attributes the team’s success in the pairings for the formats and players’ abilities to “[handle] pressure better and [focus] on making their shots”.