PETRO Gazz was the last local team to win a PVL championship other than Creamline when it did so in the 2022 Reinforced Conference against Cignal.
One of the forerunners of that historic title campaign was Myla Pablo, who was named second best outside spiker in only the Angels’ second-ever title.
Now on her second stint with Petro Gazz, a lot has changed since they made history three years ago, including a handful of players who stayed and left.
Arguably the most notable change of all is the man at the Angels’ helm in Koji Tsuzurabara, the third head coach to call the shots since now-PLDT mentor Rald Ricafort’s title-winning tenure.
For Pablo, one thing that has made their ongoing quarterfinals-bound campaign in the 2024-25 All-Filipino Conference special is how they’ve worked towards building stronger communication lines on and off the court with their Japanese coach despite having language barriers.
“Siguro yung sa (2022) Reinforced with coach Rald pa, ang pinagkaiba din talaga this conference and nung Reinforced, I think mas vocal si coach Rald before eh,” Pablo told SPIN.ph.
“Kilala namin kung paano siya mag-coach eh. Lahat naman kinakausap niya sa kung anong mga kailangang gawin kahit before nung Reinforced na ‘yun pa.”
Fast forward to three years later, Pablo added: “Ngayon kasi, nag-aadjust kami kay coach Koji, pero paunti-unti naming naiintindihan kung ano yung gusto niyang gawin sa loob ng court.”
“You can see naman na nagiging okay na rin yung galaw namin and mas more communication na rin with our coaches and teammates.”
Glory days await Angels - again
While the Angels may be carrying a 10-game win streak to the quarters, that won’t mean a thing if they can’t convert such winning energy and momentum into a more composed playoff campaign in two weeks’ time.
Not to mention, Pablo and the rest Petro Gazz will soon be gearing up for their international competition debut in the 2025 AVC Women's Champions League in April on home soil.
READ: Petro Gazz can only tap one more import for AVC. Here's why
“Hinahangad naman ng bawat team ‘yun, pero siyempre kailangan talaga naming mag-work hard and kailangan naming magtulong-tulong as a team. Kailangan din talaga namin ng tulong ng ibang mga kasama namin. Alam mo yung trabaho mo sa loob ng court eh,” said Pablo.
More than anything, being given a new lease on life with Petro Gazz after months of warming the bench is what draws Pablo to give much more of a fight in this title chase than how it went down in 2022.
As she put it, “Kumbaga, binigyan ka ni coach ng chance to play this conference kaya kailangang ibigay mo yung best mo. Kahit na injured si Jonah [Sabete], kailangan talaga naming gampanan kung ano yung trabaho namin — ako, si Tiammy [Nicole Tiamzon] and Brooke [Van Sickle].”
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