DINDIN Santiago-Manabat and the rest of Choco Mucho had their ailing star Kat Tolentino in mind when they overcame mighty PLDT for its third straight win in the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference.
Tolentino suffered a ruptured appendix and underwent emergency surgery earlier this week — an unfortunate development the team only learned while training for their PLDT match.
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The Flying Titans’ 31-year-old veteran ace, who share the opposite spiker role with Tolentino, bared playing a vintage 16-point game with a heavy heart.
“‘Yung nilaro ko, inaalaay ko talaga siya kay Kat kasi isa rin siya talaga sa inspirasyon nitong araw kasi parang hindi niya deserve ‘yung nangyari sa kanya,” Santiago-Manabat said.
“Sobrang sipag niya, sobrang bait niya, so pumunta ako dito na siyempre ‘yung mindset talaga is manalo and susunod lang sa sistema ni coach.”
It wasn’t just an inspired performance for one of the Flying Titans’ senior stars amid her own strong run of form following a conference-best 19-piece in a five-set win over ZUS Coffee on Saturday.
More than anything, Santiago-Manabat has accepted the challenge of keeping an embattled Choco Mucho side on track in Tolentino's absence.
“Gusto ko lang talaga is makatulong sa team kasi gusto kong makagawa kami ng history sa Choco Mucho,” she said.
“Lagi lang naman ako naniniwala kay coach Dante [Alinsunurin]. Hindi niya naman kami pinagsasawaan na sabihan nang sabihan na challenge accepted dapat.
“Dapat ready kami, dapat masipag kami.”
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