FOR Savi Davison, winning the PVL on Tour preseason championship was no fluke.
Even with less games than a typical conference, it was a near two-month campaign that saw the High Speed Hitters play in five cities across the country in a series of multiple back-to-back game days.
That tournament might’ve been short, but the title was still just as sweet as she hoped for it to be — one that sent a statement to the rest of the league.
“It was just proving to the rest of the PVL that we belong here and that we worked hard to get here regardless of [winning] a short conference,” Davison said during Noli Eala’s Power and Play program a day before the PVL Invitational finals.
“It’s not as far-gone as a regular season, just not as many games. Right now, we’re just anchoring our place. The expectation is to be in the top two, of course.
“If that turns out to a finals victory, a championship, then that’s what we worked for.”
With a few naysayers here and there questioning the legitimacy of that title run, Davison won’t even bat an eye and is firm in the belief that they do belong in the conversation along with the league’s best.
“Given all the hard work that we’ve put into this, I think we deserve to be here. We’ve been saying that for a little bit now but now that we can show it, it really feels good to show everybody that we’ve been working hard, we have the pieces, we have the athletes, and we have the grit,” she said.
“Hopefully, this is where we’ll stay a little bit.”
Answering the championship call, again
Two weeks since their first franchise title, the High Speed Hitters are on the cusp of winning another.
Davison believes PLDT now finds itself at a position where it has ‘more to lose’ after winning the preseason title two weeks ago.
Even with the familiarity of playing a pressure-packed title game, it does not get any easier for Davison & Co. with a new challenger in Japan’s Kobe Shinwa University looking to pounce.
“It becomes a little bit harder because once you’re in first place, I think everybody has a target on your back,” Davison explained.
“I remember growing up and playing first-placed teams in college or in recreational [leagues], it was always a big game for me […] with the expectation to always be at your hundred percent.”
“[With PLDT], we don’t have that leniency to give up a set or give up a point. We have more to lose, I guess, than before.”
For the Fil-Canadian star spiker, there’s just as much pressure in chasing a title for the first time than in trying to win it all again.
“I feel as a player, there’s maybe, a little bit [more pressure] just because now that we’re at the top, can we stay there?”
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