JUST a few days ago, Capital1 guest import Marina Tushova couldn’t even move her right arm.
But on Saturday of all nights, the Russian reinforcement broke what seemed to be an inimitable scoring benchmark which she herself set nine days ago.
49 points in one PVL game, four more than the first time she shattered the scoring ceiling.
Tushova shone brightest in Capital1’s five-set fightback over Nxled, concurrently breaking her own single-game attacking record with 46 attacks, two aces and one block on 51 percent scoring efficiency.
It also became the cherry on top of the seven-month-old team’s longest-ever win streak at three, which brings them to just one win away from a breakthrough playoff appearance.
Before launching their Round 2 campaign, however, Tushova bared how she suffered a hand injury on her spiking arm, raising concerns for the Capital1 camp if their guest import can hit peak form just in time for the continuation of prelims play.
“I was taking a ball on defense, and I pulled my muscles [on my right hand]. Next day, I couldn’t do like this [mimicking her arm movement]. It was yesterday. I attack a bit, and then it was a bit [painful] yesterday morning. So I had rest all day; it was like ice, medicines, tests,” she said.
“But today, I woke up and like wow, I have [a] new arm.”
The pain never bothered her anyway
Making the feat much more impressive was how Tushova didn’t even play a lot in their final practice sessions before their second-round opener against the Chameleons.
But as the numbers clearly showed, the pain must’ve felt like an insect bite in terms of the magnitude of the performance she was still able to put out.
And may it be excruciating or slow-creeping pain, Tushova believes it doesn’t and shouldn’t matter when wins are on the line.
“I did play a few sets yesterday in practice. I moved but I didn’t think about this pain. In practice, you can react and say ‘I have pain,’ but in the game, I was playing with a broken finger, like it’s all purple. I couldn’t touch the ball here but I was playing. They taped it for me and I played," she said.
“The hardest moment was on the serve, you have to serve and now it’s going to hurt you. After you attack, you spike and spike, but you don’t feel anything," she added. “You feel but [the pain] doesn’t matter.”
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
