MANILA, Philippines — The UST Golden Tigresses played too serious to the point that they were playing stiff already instead of enjoying the game.

This is what coach Kungfu Reyes thought as the reason why UST fell to the NU Lady Bulldogs, 23-25, 20-25, 20-25, in the UAAP Season 86 women's volleyball Finals Game One at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Saturday, May 11.

"I think us celebrating every point, enjoying ourselves, I think that was non-existent in the game where the girls played too serious. Was the occasion too big? We've experienced playing in this atmosphere in the preseason but not here with this big of a venue, crowd, and bright of a spotlight. I think that was a factor," said Reyes.

Game One was the first championship game that Reyes' Golden Tigresses, composed mainly of rookies and sophomores, played together at. It's the exact opposite case for the Bulldogs whose core is playing in its third straight championship round.

It also didn't help that UST ace spiker and MVP contender Angge Poyos twisted her right ankle after landing on the foot of teammate Em Banagua in the second set where the score was tied at 11.

Poyos did not return to the contest, finishing with seven points and eight digs. Whether or not the 5-foot-4 spiker can heal just in time for Game Two on Wednesday remains to be seen.

Reyes made it known that he's not using these things as an excuse, though, insisting that the Golden Tigresses just need to go back to their usual joy in playing the game.

"We're not making this as an alibi. We just need to bring our groove and rhythm back because it seemed to have withered away. Maybe we were just left with one-fourth of our usual selves. Our scorers weren't able to deliver high outputs but the pride was there. We also made errors that we weren't usually making prior to this game.

"We were playing stiff. Actually, we just had a light atmosphere in the dugout and I told them that we just have to bring back our groove and timing."