UST skipper Detdet Pepito urges Golden Tigresses to rediscover its heart as Final Four race tightens

For all the talent, depth, and optimism that surrounded University of Santo Tomas entering UAAP Season 88, the Golden Tigresses have reached the stretch of the season still searching for the one thing they thought they already had figured out—who they are when the pressure rises.

Ten games into the women’s volleyball tournament, UST remains alive in the Final Four race, but not in the way many expected. Instead of firmly planting itself among the top contenders, the Golden Tigresses head into the Holy Week break clinging to position, caught in a three-way tie for third to fifth place with Adamson and FEU at 6-4.

That standing alone does not tell the full story. UST did not enter the season as a team simply hoping to stay in the semifinal conversation. It entered believing this was its clearest path to a title in years.

The pieces were all there. The core remained intact, key players Jonna Perdido and Xyza Gula returned healthy, and the team added promising young frontcourt help in high school standouts Avril Bron and Lianne Penuliar. On paper, it looked like the kind of lineup built not just to compete, but to seriously threaten the traditional powers.

And yet, through 10 games, UST has looked less like a finished contender and more like a team still trying to convince itself that it belongs where it once expected to be.

That internal battle was perhaps most painfully exposed in its showdown against unbeaten De La Salle last March 25. The Golden Tigresses had the defending standard-bearers where they wanted them, with the match tied at one set apiece and UST surging to a commanding 20-12 lead in the third. It felt like the moment the Tigresses had been waiting for—the chance to make a statement, perhaps even reshape the season.

Instead, it became a collapse that still lingers. La Salle stormed all the way back to steal the third set, 25-23, before rolling through the fourth to complete a 25-12, 18-25, 25-23, 25-14 victory. What could have been UST’s defining breakthrough instead became another reminder of how fragile the team can still look when momentum shifts.

To its credit, UST did not let that loss spiral into another stumble. The Golden Tigresses responded with a four-set win over FEU, 25-17, 25-17, 18-25, 25-17, at the Quadricentennial Pavilion on Sunday, a result that kept them afloat and forced the crowded tie in the middle of the standings. But even that bounce-back win felt less like a full reset and more like a team buying itself time.

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Kapitana DetDet Pepito sa kung ano ang kulang pa sa UST Golden Tigresses:

“Puso , Mas Mahalin yung Ginagawa Mas laliman pa ang reason bakit kami naglalaro” #ust #gouste #uaap pic.twitter.com/CxrHKDqwT6

— VolleyReelsPh (@dhumzkie8) March 30, 2026

For captain Detdet Pepito, the issue now goes beyond tactics or rotations. For her, what UST still needs to recover is something deeper.

“I think ‘yung puso. Kasi nakita natin na ‘yung puso ng La Salle nung time na yun, until now parang hindi pa rin kami makapaniwala na nahabol kami up 20-12,” said Pepito, pointing to the emotional edge she believes remains missing from their game.

“Kailangan pang mas mahalin ‘yung ginagawa, kailangan mas laliman pa ‘yung reason kung bakit kami naglalaro.”

That kind of reflection says a lot about where UST currently stands. This is not a team lacking in talent or skill. If anything, that may be what makes its uneven campaign more frustrating. The Golden Tigresses have shown flashes of how dangerous they can be when everything clicks, but they have not yet shown they can sustain that level long enough to truly separate themselves from the rest of the pack.

And in a season where De La Salle University has looked untouchable at 10-0, the rest of the field has been left fighting for position, consistency, and belief.

Pepito, however, is not ready to let her team lose sight of its own ceiling.“Sinasabi ko sa kanila kung gaano kami kalakas as individuals and as a team. Doon lang po talaga kami lagi tumitingin kasi iniiwasan naming tingnan kung gaano kalakas yung kalaban kasi di ba doon kami minsan natatalo na namamangha kami kung anong kaya ng kalaban pero hindi namin alam kung hanggang saan din yung kaya naming gawin,” said the two-time UAAP Best Libero.

“Sana mas madala pa po namin yung ganoong mindset na UST pa rin kami, hindi pa rin kami dapat basta-basta nagpapatalo.”

That may now be UST’s biggest challenge over its final four elimination games—not simply winning enough to reach the Final Four, but finally playing with the identity of a team that believes it belongs there.

The path remains open. The Golden Tigresses still have games left against University of the East, Adamson University, University of the Philippines, and National University. Those matches will likely decide whether UST’s season becomes the breakthrough many predicted—or a year defined by what it could never quite hold together.

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