DESPITE playing through her shin injury, Deanna Wong remained a key cog in Choco Mucho's sweep of Chery Tiggo to open the 2022 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Invitational Conference on Saturday.
Deanna Wong injury report
The ace setter showed no signs of pain as she delivered 16 excellent sets on top of her five markers to jumpstart the Flying Titans' campaign on a good note.
It's an impressive performance to say the least, yet coach Oliver Almadro admitted that it's by design as he still tries to gauge the capacity of Wong in the early stages of the tourney.
"She has a lot of minutes today because I really want for her to test how far can she go today and it's a good thing that it's a three-sets match," he said.
But Almadro admitted the setter has yet to fully recover, noting, "I cannot say she's at 100 percent.
"But I'm really praying that Deanna will be 100 percent throughout the tournament and we really have to focus on her strengthening."
Wong has been dealing with this right shin injury since her days in Ateneo and re-aggravated it during the Open Conference semifinals earlier this year, forcing her to miss the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi.
Lucky for Choco Mucho, Jem Ferrer is there to back Wong up.
The three-time UAAP Best Setter has already done that last season and continues to do so as she saw limited minutes in the second set of its conference-opening triumph, one that Almadro is happy to have in his pocket.
"Jem is always ready whenever we need her," the mentor said. Jillian Velasco
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