Kungfu relishes coaching battles against RDJ

MANILA, Philippines: UST head coach Kungfu Reyes swept his UAAP Season 86 women’s volleyball elimination round battles against De La Salle counterpart Ramil De Jesus.

Reyes scored 2-0 against De Jesus after his Golden Tigresses subdued the De Jesus’ Lady Spikers, 22-25, 25-23, 25-16, 25-15, last Saturday.

Kungfu relishes coaching battles against RDJ

Overall, Reyes has now won eight matches against De Jesus who had 11 victories over the former (8-11).

But their head-to-head record is Reyes’ least of concern, insisting that what he relishes the most is his coaching battles against the legendary De Jesus who steered the La Salle program to 12 championships.

“We’re not counting how many times we’ve beaten them. This is not about who has more wins or losses. What I’m always looking forward to is facing coach Ramil. He was already coach Ramil when I was just a player. We all look up to him,” said Reyes.

There’s a lot to learn from De Jesus and his defending champs Lady Spikers, after all.

“Coach Ramil has a very solid program. It’s hard to deny that we’re a lot more motivated to face a team like his whose standards are really high ever since. It’s huge for us to face them because you can learn a lot from them.”

Reyes and the second seed, win-once-armed Golden Tigresses (12-2) get to face De Jesus and the third seed Lady Spikers (11-3) at least one more time this season as they collide in the semifinals.

Their game last Sunday decided which team gets to claim the second seed and the last Final Four twice-to-beat incentive.

If they stay healthy, Reyes likes his team’s chances of advancing to the championship round.

“As long as we are 100 percent healthy. We’re going to perform at any cost. We’re really working for this. We’re going to go all out because we’re looking at the big picture.”