LIKE a building sent crashing, Galeries Tower demolished all hopes of a year-ending upset as it couldn’t avert a dismal collapse late in a crushing loss to Chery Tiggo.
As a result, the Highrisers would end the year with just one win in six matches — two of which being five-set defeats.
Four more months remain in the longest-ever 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference, and there’s been more questions than answers for a Galeries Tower side that just seems to drop the ball when victories are already within reach.
The inexplicable absence of a killer instinct in the endgame, among many others, will be a puzzle the Highrisers seek to solve over the next few weeks of the league’s holiday break.
“May mga times talaga na nakakapanghinayang na nandun na kami. Hindi rin talaga namin ma-figure out bakit kami kinakapos,” said ace playmaker Julia Coronel.
Case in point, Coronel & Co.’s 2-1 set lead went down the drain after an unassailable Chery Tiggo fightback.
“Itong game na ito, kami rin ‘yung pumatay sa sarili namin with our errors. I think we committed 30 errors, so kami-kami lang din ‘yung gumagawa nung errors na ‘yun. These losses, kahit dikiit, parang lesson talaga siya. It just teaches us how to be better, how to be more mature with our decisions.
Coronel added, ““Volleyball is a game of decision-making so we really have to make better decisions. ‘Yung mga nagawa namin kanina, ‘yung mga errors namin, result ‘yung mga naging bad decision namin in a certain situation.”
Highrisers shooting themselves on the foot
Another Galeries newcomer in Jewel Encarnacion couldn't help but lament getting ever-so close to the finish line, but always runs out of gas when they could already go for the kill.
"Nakakababa [ng morale] kasi panalo na kami eh. Kaya naming ipanalo, pero kami ‘yung pumapatay sa sarili namin," the former University of the Philippines ace admitted.
"'Yung kalaban na lang namin, especially nung fourth set, ‘yung sarili namin. We already saw na if we’re moving in the right direction, lahat kami on, lahat kami lumalaban, kayang-kaya namin manalo.
"It’s just that sometimes pumapasok ‘yung pressure, pumapasok ‘yung frustration, ‘yung doubt sa skills tapos ‘yung fear siyempre kasi you don’t want to make more mistakes. 'Yun ‘yung nagiging kalaban namin sa panahon na ‘yun and du'n kami nasasaktan kasi kami ‘yung pumapatay sa sarili naming panalo."
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