KAT Tolentino has endured every ordeal imaginable for an athlete throughout the course of her volleyball career.
Multiple ACL injuries and, most recently, partial deafness swung the Fil-Canadian spiker’s way over the last few years.
However, she continues to fight through it all, now as the last Choco Mucho pioneer standing since the team’s inception in 2019.
Tolentino showed out in a bid to make up for lost ground with a 27-point explosion in the Flying Titan’s 27-29, 25-20, 25-19, 17-25, 15-12 win of the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference over Galeries Tower.
Such efforts, even behind the scenes, never went unnoticed for head coach Dante Alinsunurin.
Choco Mucho’s ol’ reliable
A handful of lethal scorers have emerged for the Flying Titans over seasons past.
Even as the likes of Sisi Rondina, Dindin Manabat, Des Cheng, and Isa Molde rose through the ranks for ‘Ube Nation,’ Alinsunurin has always kept the faith in Tolentino even at her lowest.
“Kay Kat, every time naman na si Kat yung nasa lineup, sobrang tiwala na ako sa kanya. Sobrang nanghinayang talaga ako nung nagkasakit siya, pero sabi ko nga, eto yung time na para makabalik na siya at maka-recover na siya,” the Choco Mucho mentor said.
“Sobrang thankful ako kasi kahit na every practice, nag-oobserve ako sa kanya kung ano pa yung dapat gawin niya.
“Ako na rin yung nahihiya sa kanya sa ginagawa niyang performance every time na nagpapractice kami kasi nga galing siya sa sakit, tapos every time na nandun siya sa court, all out, all out talaga.”
Players come and go and teams may grow and evolve, but Alinsunurin knows he has a keeper in Choco Mucho’s longest-serving ace.
“Ako na lang talaga ‘yung nag-iisip [ng kondisyon niya]. Lalapitan ko siya at tatanungin kung ’kaya pa ba?' kaya sobrang thankful ako sa ginagawa niya [para sa team].”
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