MANILA, Philippines — In a showdown of former UST teammates Sisi Rondina and Eya Laure, it was the “Cherry Bomb” who prevailed in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) on Saturday, March 2, at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
Rondina came out in her usual explosive self, pumping in a game-high 23 points and 13 excellent receptions to power Choco Mucho to a 25-9, 25-23, 20-25, 25-17 triumph against Chery Tiggo for the solo lead.
But Rondina remained humble, even heaping praise to her talented collegiate teammate turned professional foe.
Laure proved to be a key cog despite the loss, firing 13 points, just behind team top scorer Ara Galang’s 14.
“[Laure] has grown professionally as a player, I see in her how she has grown under coach Kung Fu (Reyes), and I am proud of how powerful her hit was (in our game),” Rondina said in Filipino after the game.
“I hope she learns a lot, and I’m praying for her success in volleyball,” she added.
The two donned black and gold at the same time for just one season — UAAP Season 81 in 2019, where Rondina bagged the Most Valuable Player and Laure the Rookie of the Year honors.
With their leadership, UST reached the UAAP finals and even went up 1-0 against Ateneo before Laure suffered an injury as the Tigresses yielded the crown in three games.
After Rondina graduated, Laure played for three more seasons and became the dominant leader of UST, but was never able to replicate the team’s success.
Rondina, though, expects to see more of Laure unleashing the numbers as the PVL season goes along.
Petro Gazz, Cignal up
While Choco Mucho needed four sets to dispose of Chery TIggo, the Petro Gazz Angels only needed 89 minutes to dispatch the PLDT High Speed Hitters, 25-16, 25-23, 25-21, behind Brooke Van Sickle‘s 23 points.
Van Sickle battled for the first time against Fil-Canadian Savi Davison, who ended up with 19 markers, with the High Speed Hitters losing their first game in three tries.
“I expected her to make points and she’s a fantastic player, she’s very physical, jumps high, hits extremely hard,” Van Sickle said of Davison after the game as her Angels improved to 2-1.
“I thought just even beyond her offensive game, I thought her defensive, even passing, was really well, she had a really good all-around game.”
“So it was it was super fun to play against her. And yeah, like, you know, we’re gonna build that friendship… So I’m super excited for that,” the American hitter added.
In the first game, the Cignal HD Spikers waylaid the Galeries Tower Highrisers in straight sets, 25-14, 25-16, 25-17.
Ces Molina uncorked 14 points as the team remained undefeated at 2-0, while Galeries Tower got bunched up at the tail end of the standings at 0-2. — Rappler.com