AFTER seeing its title aspirations fade in the face of a controversial finish, PLDT's end to the 2024 PVL Reinforced Conference felt like death by a thousand cuts.
Their semifinals game, where they were already at match point, slipped away no thanks to a contentious Akari net fault.
Then their post-game protest, hoping to overturn the controversial call, was denied.
Not long after, their Invitationals campaign didn't push through due to injuries.
And capping it all off? A defeat in the bronze medal game to sister team Cignal.
READ: Resilient Cignal claims bronze in PVL Reinforced Conference
All in all, you could call the last five days... A 'net loss' for the High Speed Hitters.
Understandably, there even came a point prior to their finish in the red where they hardly had the will to show up.
An emotional van ride
During their travel to the Philsports Arena in Pasig for the battle for bronze, veteran captain Kath Arado shared that PLDT was still feeling the effects of all that transpired for them in the past days.
“Mahirap siyang tanggapin. Mahirap nga siya sabihin eh. Pero kailangan namin siya ilaban kasi dapat maging professional tayo, trabaho natin ’to. ‘Pag nandun ka sa sitwasyon, ikaw ‘yung nandun, ikaw yung nanakawan, sa'yo nangyari ‘yung ganun, hindi mo talaga kakayanin emotionally,” she said.
“Pinipilit namin with the help ng management and coaches, pero mahirap siya tanggapin, mahirap pumunta."
No matter where their feelings went, however, they ultimately ended up in one place: Kaya namin.
"Sabi ko nga sa van, napag-usapan namin, 'Hindi, parang kaya naman namin, kaya naming ilaban,'” said the skipper-libero.
Only, once they set foot inside the Pasig venue, the roller-coaster of emotion rushed downwards yet again.
“Pagtapak namin dito sa arena, naramdaman namin ‘yung emotion na,
'Kaya ba namin?’ Kinekwestyon namin yung sarili namin na kaya ba namin, kaya pa ba,” shared Arado.
As they took the Taraflex for their warmups, the High Speed Hitters were all clad in black, with 'Pusong PLDT' printed at the front of their shirts. Of course, black is one of the team's colors - or it may very well have been a statement.
Whether or not there was a subliminal message in their outfit of choice, what's certain is that PLDT persevered and gave it their all. It's just that, at that point in time, the HD Spikers proved to be the better team.
Will time heal all wounds?
As the dust settles on a missed podium and even a missed title shot, the High Speed Hitters' focus isn’t centered on their next conference just yet.
The utmost priority, at least for now, is to heal.
And whether it’ll take weeks, months, or even longer for the wounds to be scars and mere bad memories by the end of it all, their welfare matters more than anything.
“Siguro ‘yung sa next conference, hindi pa namin alam kasi kailangan naming i-heal muna kung ano ‘yung nangyari this conference kasi mahirap talaga siya i-take mentally saka emotionally," Arado said.
“Mahirap talaga siya sa isang athlete dahil alam naming pinaghirapan namin ‘yun. Wala kaming inaagrabyado na tao para makuha sana namin ‘yun," she added.
“Let’s see kung anong mangyayari sa process namin sa next conference.”
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