REIGNING PVL Season MVP Trisha Tubu was left staring at more than just a shock sweep loss to Thailand guest team EST Cola on Tuesday.
She was also left in awe.
For all of Farm Fresh's firepower, the Foxies ran into a Thai side whose core of seasoned national team players offered a crash course on the kind of composure needed to survive the biggest moments in the PVL Invitational.
READ: Why EST Cola was never going to be a walkover in PVL return
Tubu has been red-hot on offense as usual, emerging as the league's second leading scorer two game days into the conference with an average of 20 points per game.
But against EST Cola, the reigning MVP and the Foxies found themselves up against a team that never seemed rattled, whether it was ahead or being threatened.
“Kahit lamang kami or dikit kami, sobrang composed nila. Sinasabi rin ni coach [Koji Tsuzurabara], sobrang consistent nila, and ‘yun ‘yung kulang namin. ‘Yun ‘yung sabi ni coach na kailangan naming working point,” Tubu said.
EST Cola's advantage, according to Tubu, was also rooted in familiarity.
With its players having spent years together, including several members of Thailand's national team setup, the Thai squad operated with a level of cohesion that Farm Fresh is still working to build.
“Matagal na sila magkasama. Sistema talaga nila, iisa du’n, so kailangan namin mag-stick din sa sistema namin,” she said.
The loss dropped Farm Fresh into a four-way tie at 1-1 in the six-team field, keeping the race to the finals wide open with plenty still to play for.
And despite the setback, Tubu remains convinced that the Foxies are still very much in the hunt.
“Malaki pa rin ‘yung chance namin sabi ni coach kasi ‘yun nga, same kami ng ranking lahat, so 1-1 kami. Malaki pa rin yung chance, so kailangan lang namin ayusin ‘yung mga susunod naming games,” she said.
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