Rondina Sisi Rondina of Choco Mucho believes sister team Creamline can be beaten. Photo by Ernie Sarmiento

Flying Titans stay confident in PVL

December 14, 2023 Theodore P. Jurado 443 views
Tolentino
Mae Tolentino of Choco Mucho spikes. Photo by Ernie Sarmiento

SINCE joining the Premier Volleyball League in 2019, Choco Mucho has not beaten sister team Creamline in their nine meetings.

But for Sisi Rondina, a key piece of the Flying Titans puzzle to become a title contender, the Cool Smashers can be conquered as long as everyone is on the same page.

“Sabi ko nga paulit ulit, nadadaan yan sa trabaho and pag gugustuhin talaga namin, siyempre patibayan talaga yan ng tiyaga, trabaho, at pasensya,” said Rondina.

Choco Mucho will enter the Second All-Filipino Conference Finals as heavy underdogs against Creamline when Game 1 of the best-of-three series unfurls today before an expected huge crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The championship opener is at 6 p.m., right after Cignal and Chery Tiggo begin their series for third place at 4 p.m.

The Flying Titans are Finals debutants, assuring them of their first podium finish in the league.

On the other hand, the decorated Cool Smashers are regulars in the biggest stage, having appeared in the championship round 10 times, winning six of them.

In their lone meeting in the season-ending tournament, Creamline subdued Choco Mucho, 25-18, 25-16, 24-26, 25-21.

After losing to the Cool Smashers, the Flying Titans won 10 in a row before suffering a meltdown in the semifinals opener against the HD Spikers.

Choco Mucho then won the next two matches, including Tuesday night’s 25-20, 23-25, 26-24, 25-23 victory that frustrated Cignal and forged its first-ever title duel with Creamline.

The Cool Smashers, meanwhile, have been dominant, winning all 11 matches in the preliminaries and have not dropped a set in their semis sweep of the Crossovers.

For Rondina, every stat is out of the window.

“Alam naman natin na yung Creamline hinding hindi nagpapatalo, kami rin ipapakita rin namin kung ano yung mga natutunan namin and ano yung mga nag-improve at kaya namin,” said Rondina.

The Flying Titans would not make it to the championship round without Deanna Wong, who has been connecting well with Rondina and Kat Tolentino.

Alyssa Valdez has regained her form coming off an injury that sidelined her late last year while Bernadette Pons, Rondina’s erstwhile teammate in the national beach volleyball team, has proved to be a reliable hitter coming off the bench.

What’s amazing for the Cool Smashers is they reached this far even without Jia de Guzman and Ced Domingo, who are currently plying their wares overseas.

“We’ve been through a lot without ate Jia and Celine,” said Tots Carlos, one of the Creamline’s main offensive weapons. “But we’re really happy we’re here (in the Finals). Yung collective effort ng team maganda yung kinalabasan and also we’re just happy na si Kyle (Negrito) nag-step up din sa game and she knows what to do.”

“Masaya kami kasi pasok na kami sa Finals but yun nga. di pa dun nagtatapos one game at a time, one-point at a time,” she added.

AUTHOR PROFILE