–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Brooke Van Sickle knows the road to a deep playoff run within the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Women’s Champions League won’t be smooth for the Petro Gazz Angels.
“We expect to get pushed. These are all championship teams,” said Van Sickle after the Angels fell to Taiwan’s Taipower, 25-15, 25-16, 19-25, 25-20, on Monday—a loss that puts their quarterfinal hopes in jeopardy.
But all shouldn’t be lost for the reigning PVL All-Filipino champions.
READ: Fresh off title, no pressure for Petro Gazz in AVC–Brooke Van Sickle
A win against Hong Kong’s Hip Hing Women’s Volleyball Team of their final elimination game on Tuesday will send them through to the subsequent round of the 12-team continental tournament.
“We’ve to modify our mentality and go after it in the subsequent game. We’ve to stay together as a team as much as possible,” added Van Sickle, who finished with 13 points, including 11 attacks and two aces.
Petro Gazz import Gia Day led the charge with 16 kills for a complete of 18 points. However the Angels looked a far cry from the squad that stunned 10-time champion Creamline for the All-Filipino title just over per week ago.
Their 28 unforced errors helped ease the trail for Taipower, who capitalized on the host team’s miscues with clinical efficiency.
Hsu Wan-Yun and Peng Yu-Rou led the Taiwanese charge, following up their sweep of Hip Hing with one other commanding win to book a crossover quarterfinal spot.
Facing a possible sweep, the Angels fought back within the third set, seizing momentum as Taipower faltered. Errors by Lin Cai-Zhen and Hsu allowed Van Sickle to strike with a robust cross to place Petro Gazz up 21-17.
Van Sickle, Aiza Maizo-Pontillas and Joy Dacoron then combined to complete the set, with Van Sickle sealing it with an ace.
Limited practice time
“I won’t say it’s pressure [from the championship]. It’s a special tournament. Yeah, we won the championship, but we’ve moved on,” Van Sickle said. “Tonight, we’ll watch film and shake it off. The primary game is over—learn from it and move on.”
Taipower regrouped within the fourth set and took control behind Huang Ching-Hsuan and Hsu. A blistering crosscourt shot by Peng and a running attack from Huang opened an eight-point lead, further widened by Day’s back-to-back errors.
MJ Phillips briefly gave the Angels hope with a fast spike and a block to shut the gap to 22-18, but Remy Palma’s service error at match point sealed the loss.
Day, who has had limited practice time with the Angels, isn’t getting too down concerning the defeat.
“I feel this can be my first international tournament so I’m really excited to play with a special style and in addition see so many alternative styles in volleyball, I feel it’s a ravishing thing,” she said. “Like Brooke (Van Sickle) said, the teams on this tournament are really good at playing together and finding their rhythm as a team so I feel that’s something we will learn from and really be enthusiastic about.”
“I form of accepted the challenge, so I’m excited for what the longer term holds and I’m really thankful that they invited me to come back here.” INQ
