ZUS Coffee isn’t the cellar-dwelling unit it used to be, one year since its inception.
It began its PVL run in 2024 with back-to-back 12th-place finishes and not a single win in 19 matches played.
Fast forward to a year later, the Thunderbelles are now on their second straight PVL quarterfinals appearance.
How did the past year change ZUS Coffee for the better?
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Back then, the Frank Lao-backed team would carry out a ‘less is more’ approach with the limited talent they have on hand.
This time, the Thunderbelles may have started from less but now, they have more.
“We basically have more talent, pero di pa kami team,” said head coach Jerry Yee.
“We have started from less. Less talented players, small players, parang ganun. Ngayon pa lang tayo nagkakaroon ng ganyan.
“We have more names na magagamit, meron akong mga sub kahit papano, eight-, nine-man deep. Kulang pa eh. ‘Di pa kami consistent, ‘di pa kami team, but we’re trying.”
They might be a playoff team again in the 2025 PVL on Tour, but Yee isn’t convinced that they are already a winning team. Not yet, anyway.
“‘Yung mga reactions namin, hindi pa pang-consistent o pang-winning team. Execution namin, dami naming mga simpleng mali, magtitinginan, magtatawanan.
“Even yung court positioning namin, pa-minsan magdi-discuss, mag-aaway o magtatalo pa kami. We're not there yet.”
Bitter-turned-sweet
Before the likes of Jovelyn Gonzaga and Chinnie Arroyo joined ZUS Coffee, it was clearly a team still in pursuit of building its identity and cultivating what seemed to be a far-fetched winning culture at the time.
With wins now coming in on a regular basis, Gonzaga attributes such newfound success to something beyond the confines of a volleyball court.
It's this much-stronger relationship that the Thunderbelles have built both on and off the court that has enabled such franchise breakthroughs to emerge.
"More of na-work na namin ‘yung relationship as a team. Hindi ko sasabihin na dahil lang dumating kaming mga seniors pero more of talaga kailangan mong palaliman ‘yung relationship ng bawat isa," Gonzaga said.
"Kailangan magstart talaga siya sa loob na nagtitiwala kami sa isa’t isa. ‘Yung relationship, kung may problema, kailangan namin i-address talaga para ma-solusyonan nang sabay-sabay.
"Ang sarap sa feeling kahit sinong ipasok ni coach [Jerry Yee], sobra talaga kaming all out support na ma-expose and mag-deliver kaya more of siguro, ganun ‘yung relationship ng team na lumalim na talaga."
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