Bea De Leon gained much-needed confidence ahead of Choco Mucho’s semifinals return in the Premier Volleyball League Second All-Filipino Conference on Tuesday.
After hardly seeing the court throughout the conference, De Leon got a chance to showcase her skills and played a major role in the Flying Titans’ dominant sweep of Gerflor, with scores of 25-16, 25-17, and 25-11 at the Philsports Arena.
The Choco Mucho team captain was a major force above the net, unleashing five kill blocks to finish with 13 points in the team’s ninth consecutive victory.
“Siyempre malaki rin siya sa confidence ko. Sabi nga ni coach na coming into the next games, sunud-sunod kami talaga, back-to-back,” said the former UAAP champion.
“Again, it’s been a while, so yung confidence ko in this game tumaas din. Hopefully nga pagkadating don, once na tumingin si coach at may kinailangan yung team, ready po kami talaga,” she added.
Choco Mucho is on its way to its first semifinals appearance since the 2022 Open Conference, where they finished fourth.
The Flying Titans have struggled since, failing to make the playoffs in the next four consecutive conferences. They finally broke through in the Second All-Filipino Conference via a hard-fought, five-set win over PLDT last Thursday.
De Leon said that she’s glad to finally see the team, after a long and painful wait, compete in the semifinals.
“Ang tagal namin ‘tong hinintay, sa totoo lang. I think it’s been four, almost five years na may Choco Mucho, and this has always been part of the goal. Syempre within that middle, medyo lumalabo siya, but now na nakita namin at this point in time, ‘di na kami nagbibilang, umaasa sa ibang team na matalo,” said De Leon.
“Yung bilangan na ganun kasi we all know it all depends on points sometimes na kapag ka naghahabol ka dun sa spot na pangapat. Ayun nga ngayon tinatanong kami kung namimili ba kami ng kalaban. So yun, wala. Sobrang saya to see and be with the team through ups and downs. Sobrang thankful lang kami na nandito kami.”
