IT didn’t took long for Choco Mucho to become title contenders in the Premier Volleyball League under first-year coach Dante Alinsunurin.

It was expected that the Flying Titans will make major adjustments under Alinsunurin’s new system as the club missed the semifinals in the first two conferences, including the Invitational tournament where newly-minted Second All-Filipino Conference MVP Sisi Rondina came on board.

Back playing indoor volleyball after four years at the sands, Rondina had already sparked change, growth, and improvement for Choco Mucho, which made its first-ever Finals stint before losing to sister team Creamline in two matches.

Although the Flying Titans fell short of forcing a rubber match against the Cool Smashers, Rondina and company still left it all on the court to the delight of record crowd of 24,459 at the historic Smart Araneta Coliseum last Saturday.

The University of Santo Tomas legend deflected the credit of her MVP award to Alinsunurin, who recently steered Sta. Elena-NU to a Spikers’ Turf Invitational Conference.

“Kung may MVP man po, ito po ay para kay Coach Dante. Nagpapasalamat po talaga kami sa kanya dahil sa sistema at programa niya,” said Rondina.

As the Flying Titans are savoring their finest finish since joining the league in 2019, the 5-foot-6 Rondina offered the conference’s highest individual award to her teammates.

“Hindi man po namin nakuha yung gold ngayon, pero itong award para sa team po namin,” she continued.

In Game 2 of the Finals, Rondina unloaded 33 points on 29 attacks, three blocks, and an ace – a PVL record for most points by a local in a Finals game.

Alinsunurin is so glad to have Rondina on his side.

“Umpisa pa lang talaga yun yung gusto niyang mangyari yung makatulong sa team kaya naman talagang inaccept niya yung offer namin sa kanya sa Choco Mucho,” said Alinsunurin.

“Talagang mapakita niya yung skills niya sa volleyball and actually hindi lang naman score ang tinutulong samin ni Sisi eh, the way siya mag training everyday, yung mindset niya talaga yung team namin is nahahawa talaga kaya sobrang thankful ako sa ginagawa niya na kahit may nararamdaman siya, sinasabi niya, ‘Coach hangga’t kaya ko, lalaban at lalaban ako.’”

Behind Rondina, the Flying Titans won 10 straight matches after an opening day loss to the Cool Smashers in the preliminary round.

Choco Mucho then rebounded from its semis opening loss to Cignal that ended its club-best winning streak by hurdling the next two matches to advance to the championship round.

With all the learnings it got from the Finals loss, Rondina and the Flying Titans are ready to pick up the pieces for next year’s PVL wars.