ONLY one Flying Titan from the original crew half a decade ago remains with the team.
Kat Tolentino is Choco Mucho’s last pioneering player to still be onboard this season with the reigning PVL All-Filipino Conference runner-up.
This comes after former team captain Maddie Madayag embarked on a once in a lifetime sojourn with Kurobe Aqua Fairies in the Japan SV.League for their 2024-25 campaign.
READ: Choco Mucho shuts down Deanna Wong for rest of year
From their title-winning days as rising stars in Ateneo to blazing their own trail in the pros, Tolentino and Madayag have stood side-by-side through years, seasons, and even leagues past.
While the 29-year-old Fil-Canadian spiker, who revealed her year-long ordeal with an auditory condition, acknowledged how it all feels different for her to be in a Madayag-less Choco Mucho side, it has also been encouraging for her and the team as of late to see their young guns step up to the plate.
Having to cover the most ground lost in Madayag’s absence is rookie middle blocker Lorraine Pecaña who was selected 11th overall by Choco Mucho in the inaugural PVL Draft earlier this year to take the veteran defender’s place.
“It’s different for me. I'm so used to playing with her [Maddie] as the middle, but I also got used to playing with the other girls,” Tolentino said.
“It’s nice to see our rookie Lorraine step up and fill her position. I'm thankful that she’s been doing well. I miss her [Maddie] yet I'm glad that other of my other teammates are able to perform.”
Choco Mucho’s sweet new flavor
Bar a surprise ninth-place drop in import-laden play, the Choco Mucho team that used to finish seventh in the league made back-to-back finals trips over the last year and racked up a pair of silver medals.
That 2019 team is now a far cry from what the Flying Titans have grown to become.
And for Tolentino, who’s been through it all since day one with ‘Ube Nation,’ the evolution has been nothing short of promising in their longstanding bid for an elusive PVL championship.
“Since I've been with Choco Mucho from the beginning, I've seen how it's evolved and I know that we had to fail or lose in order to win.”
Tolentino furthered, “I’ve gone through many Choco Muchos where we've lost. I'm not doubting the team or anything. I know that we can bounce back from this and I know that it's a process and Choco Mucho has come so far since when I first started so I'm just gonna keep working hard.”
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