Capital1’s Marina Tushova celebrates after scoring one of her 49 points, a new PVL scoring record, Saturday night. PVL photo
Tushova smashes PVL mark
FOR the second straight match, Marina Tushova smashed the Premier Volleyball League’s all-time scoring record, drilling in 49 points in Capital1’s 20-25, 20-25, 25-16, 25-19, 15-6 victory over Nxled at the Philsports Arena.
The tireless Russian powerhouse flirted with the 50-point mark, but Tushova’s explosion was more than enough to power the Solar Spikers to a reverse sweep, securing their fourth win against two losses in the Reinforced Conference.
Despite the personal accolades, Tushova remained focused on Capital1’s success rather than her individual achievements.
“All that I want is more victories for my team. I don’t care about my numbers,” said Tushova, downplaying her impressive performance.
Tushova surpassed her previous career-high of 45 points in a 13-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-20, 15-13 victory over Choco Mucho last August 1.
With the upstart Solar Spikers now slowly becoming a contender, Tushova wanted her team to be more involved in the game.
“I need all of my team to be fully committed in these last two games. I can’t do it alone, I want them to know that I’m here, but now I want them to give it their all in the next few games,” Tushova said.
While Tushova registered 46-of-91 attacks, two service aces, and one block, the rest of Capital1 combined for 37 points.
Setter Iris Tolenada was Solar Spikers the second-best scorer with seven points, including two blocks and two service aces. Tolenada, who has all the license all night to feed the ball to Tushova if the going gets tough, tossed in 17 excellent sets.
Substitute Patty Orendain, who came in the third set, was Capital1’s second-best attacker with five spikes.
“I want all of them to feel that they can score points. I want to be there to support them, but please, try to do it on your own first,” said Tushova, who also logged 14 receptions.
For Tushova, there is still a lot of work to be done and plenty of room for improvement as the young Solar Spikers seek to get past the preliminary round for the first time in just two conferences in the PVL.
“We need to work on everything—physical conditioning, ball work, everything. I hope that in the next games, more of the girls will feel that fire inside and improve because after these games, we’re going to face much tougher challenges,” Tushova said.
Capital1 will next play Farm Fresh on Thursday before wrapping up its prelims stint against Galeries Tower on August 20.
