ILAGAN — Petro Gazz just made a very strong case in having the strongest one-two punch of the 2025 PVL Reinforced Conference.
Even with a loss to Creamline, the power duo of Brooke Van Sickle and American import Lindsey Vander Weide put up methodical performances on both ends of the floor that proved much too good for a winless Chery Tiggo EV side.
Van Sickle and Vander Weide, who teamed up at the University of Oregon from 2016 to 2019, showed no signs of rust as far as their on-court partnership is concerned.
READ: Petro Gazz gets back on track in Isabela by beating Chery Tiggo
In front of a soldout Isabela crowd, BVS detonated a herculean triple-double of 25 points, 15 digs and 10 receptions behind a similar 25-point, 11-reception double-double from Vander Weide.
Their unrivaled synergy peaked in the last two sets of the contest, with BVS scoring the last two attacks of Set 3 and Vander Weide going four-of-six in their 6-0 match-winning run in Set 4.
The American import deflected all credit in that dominant home stretch to the top-notch floor defense Van Sickle showed.
“On the last six points, Brooke was digging every single ball. So when Brooke digs that ball, it fires me up. I have to put that ball away for her,” Vander Weide said.
“At the same time, in those six balls or whatever, how many balls away, if Brooke wasn't back there, I wouldn't have even had the opportunity.
“It just comes from us playing as a team. Someone digging, someone sending me a perfect ball and me putting it away.”
And it wasn’t just a coincidence that Van Sickle had a field day on digging and receiving in their first match after losing a tough four-setter to longtime rival Creamline.
As the Cool Smashers seemingly found holes everywhere in the Angels’ floor defense, BVS made it as airtight as can be to restore order up north in Isabela for their second win in three outings.
“Coming into our practice, because we had practice the next day [after the loss to Creamline], we already instantly were starting with the floor [defense],” Van Sickle said.
“We knew that Creamline, at the end of the day, they out-defensed us in blocking and just digging. So, we knew that we had to be better and that's where we lacked big time.
“Ater we got in the gym, the bodies started hitting the floor and we knew that we had to continue to do that throughout the season because that was a weak spot for us.”
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.
