ALYSSA Valdez was quick to allay injury concerns after sitting out the last two sets of Creamline's 19-25, 25-23, 25-19, 20-25, 13-25 loss to Kurashiki Ablaze in the PVL Invitational Conference Finals on Sunday night.
Coming off a seven-month layoff to recover from an undisclosed knee injury, the Cool Smashers captain only played three sets and was seen walking with a limp when she received her second best outside hitter award.
The former Ateneo star, however, was quick to ease any fears of another injury setback, saying any pain is only part of the recovery process after a long layoff.
"As an athlete, normal lang na merong masakit, and ako pa, galing sa injury," said Valdez. "It's part of the journey of being able to play again, after any injury, merong mga hiccups and challenges pa rin."
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The 30-year-old said she was just glad to be able to step on the court again, even if she wasn't on the floor in the most decisive stretch of the one-game final.
Valdez said: "I'm very happy I was able to play games. I'm sad na di ko natapos conference physically, but I am grateful to be back.
"A lot of reasons to improve more and focus on getting a hundred percent again."
Valdez ended Sunday night's game against Kurashiki with six points. She scored 57 points in total in her comeback conference - eighth best in the league - and was No. 2 in success rate in spiking at 39.23 percent.
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