MJ Phillips celebrated her 24th birthday with a rousing comeback, nailing the clutch points and delivering a statement campaign-opener victory for Sta. Lucia in the 2019 Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference.
The Fil-Am wing spiker woke up on her special day with a great feeling, which she brought to their first assignment of the conference against Marinerang Pilipina on Saturday at the Arena in San Juan City.
"So special. When I woke up today, I had a good feeling that we're gonna win. And on my birthday, that is just an icing on the cake," said Phillips, who dropped 22 points in beating Marinerang Pilipina, 25-23, 25-22, 25-23.
The 5-foot-11 hitter, who just recovered from an achilles tendon injury and recurring right shoulder injury, also put up the finishing touches in the Lady Realtors’ tight encounter in the second set and scored two of their 5-0 run in erasing a 20-23 deficit in the third to complete their first victory.
“Knowing that I'm the go to person that they want. So, I know that I just got to deliver. I love the pressure,” Phillips said.
Returning to action since missing the volleyball scene in last year’s All-Filipino conference, Phillips believes that she could surpass her empathic 22-point performance laced up with great defensive effort 16 digs.
“Good start. I know that I can do better. I just had jitters in the beginning,” she said. “So, I'm glad that I pulled myself out of it, and more to come.”
Sta. Lucia head coach Babes Castillo, who took over last Grand Prix and sparingly played his recovering spiker, is happy to see Phillips back in action but insisted that the best is yet to come for her.
“She’s fully reinstated but still she’s feeling her way through it parang nasa fourty percent pa nga lang siya,” Castillo said. “Sabi ko nga kung mas may rhythm ka pa kung mas makaconnect ka pa doon sa puso ng team. I think mas malaki pa mapoproduce niya.“
The birthday girl agreed with her coach and added there is still a long way to go for this batch of Lady Realtors.
“There's definitely some things that we still need to work out on but I think that this is a stronger team and the chemistry is a lot better,” she said.
After returning to action, Phillips is now focused on building her confidence this conference for her to give back from the team’s support through her performance.
“My confidence is slowly building. That's the key this conference, just building my confidence back up. And the support of my team really helps,” Phillips said.
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