AS the PLDT High Speed Hitters continue their brilliant form in the 2024 PVL Reinforced Conference with a straight set drubbing of ZUS Coffee last Tuesday, the ghost of its late-tournament meltdown in the All-Filipino conference still looms over their heads.
Just a few months back, the High Speed Hitters looked poised to break into the semifinals after a strong start, but back to back defeats to Chery Tiggo and Cignal in the home stretch of the preliminaries slammed the door shut for PLDT.
Not even a huge upset win over Creamline could save their once-promising conference as they got bounced out by virtue of match points (24-23) despite finishing the tournament with an 8-3 slate.
And for the third straight conference, they missed out on a semis seat as they finished fifth in each of those campaigns.
As much as their ace setter Kim Fajardo isn’t trying to think about it, she admits that those worries sometimes creep in as they're in the middle of yet another hot start.
“Talagang ‘di ko iniisip, ako ‘to ah, sa’kin, ‘di ko talaga iniisip ‘yung nangyari last conference. Pero siyempre, at the back of my mind, sumasagi talaga sa isip ko na sana ‘di mangyari ‘yun (ulit),” Fajardo said after their 25-18, 25-14, 25-12 blowout of the Thunderbelles.
It’s up to them, though, to keep their hunger and brilliant form as they’ve gone 5-1 for the tournament even without the services of top scorer Savi Davison and the brilliant Kianna Dy.
The High Speed Hitters made up for the absence of the pair with the steady orchestrating of Fajardo, the high-scoring ways of Lena Samoilenko and Erica Santos and the towering presence of Majoy Baron and Mika Reyes in the middle.
For Fajardo, it’s all about staying hungry until they’ve reached their goal.
“With that, siyempre kailangan naming mag-trabaho. ‘Yung mga panalo namin ngayon, we can’t be satisfied kasi ‘di pa naman tapos ‘yung laban. Ma-sasatisfy ka lang kapag makuha mo ‘yung goal mo.”
Baron, who shone with 13 points on nine attacks and four blocks over ZUS Coffee, is using their previous conference meltdown as a motivation and as a continuous reminder that it’s not how they start, it’s how they finish.
“Siguro extra motivation ‘yung kinapos kami last conference and lesson learned na rin. This conference, we have to make sure na mas maging matibay pa kami sa team.”
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