BACARRA, Ilocos Norte — Jonah Sabete said heart-to-heart team talks and video greetings from their families put a glimmer of hope in Sta. Lucia’s dimming semifinals chances in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Open Conference.
The Lady Realtors have been on a roll since they dropped three of their first four games.
With outside spiker Jovie Prado and setter Djanel Cheng joining the starting six, Sta. Lucia earned its third straight victory to improve with 4-3 record to move just half a game behind No. 4 Petro Gazz.
Besides the major adjustment of head coach Eddieson Orcullo on his starters, heart-to-heart meetings inside the Laoag Bubble brought the Lady Realtors back in contention.
“Sobrang dami naming pinag-usapan at ginawa talaga, lalo na rin sa mga sarili namin tsaka sa ugali namin. Parang nakikita nila coach kasi na naglalaro kami sa sarili lang namin, hindi as a team talaga,” said Sabete, who scored 15 points in their three-set rout on BaliPure on Sunday.
“Binigay namin lahat yung sarili namin sa team talaga mismo hindi lang sa sarili namin.”
Their late winning run was also fueled by their loved ones, who cheered them up through video messages.
“Yung inspirasyon namin yung bawat family namin na nag-send talaga ng videos para lang ma-boost talaga yung morale namin para tuloy-tuloy na rin yung panalo namin talaga,” she said.
Since then, the Lady Realtors have developed their team chemistry.
Dramatic turnaround for the Lady Realtors
The Bulacan State University standout, who started her club career with Sta. Lucia in 2017, is happy on how the things turned out after a dramatic first two weeks in the PVL bubble.
“Masaya kaming lahat kasi nakukuha na namin yung jelling ng team namin and yung perfect na magkakasama sa loob and yung position namin, and mas lalo na yung atake namin talaga,” Sabete said.
The do-it-all outside hitter, who won the 2019 PVL Reinforced Conference title for Petro Gazz with fellow former Angels Cheng and Prado, said their familiarity also made things smoother for Sta. Lucia.
“Sobrang laking factor talaga na mag kasama kami ni Cheng saka ni Jovie kasi almost two years din kaming nagkasama sa previous team namin,” Sabete said. “Talagang familiarized na talaga namin kung ano yung paguugali ng isa't isa, kung paano kami maglaro.”
Expect Sta. Lucia to go all out in its last two games as its semis fate depends on the results of its matches against Perlas Spikers (1-3) on Tuesday and Petro Gazz (4-2) on Thursday.
“Hindi kami puwedeng magpabaya, as in pukpukan na talaga dapat,” Sabete said.
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