Team captain Brooke Van Sickle couldn’t be prouder of how Nxled persevered through adversity, staying united despite a string of setbacks before finally breaking through in the 2026 Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference.
The Chameleons snapped a frustrating four-game losing streak on Thursday night, overcoming a first-set stumble before dispatching ZUS Coffee in four sets, 20-25, 25-15, 25-23, 25-19, to keep their hopes of securing an outright qualifying-round berth alive.
“Yeah, I mean, the four-straight loss, I mean, it wasn’t, you know, it wasn’t, you know, happy times,” said the three-time PVL MVP, who finished with 20 points, 10 excellent digs, and 13 excellent receptions.
“But we’re able to stick together. And I’m really proud of all the girls. It’s not just me, but I feel like as a team, cohesively, we all, like, understand what we need to do and what we need to get done,” she added.
(C) PVL Images
For Van Sickle, the losing streak ultimately became an important test for the team, forcing them to rediscover their identity. More importantly, it revealed the kind of group Nxled has become—one that refuses to break apart even when things are not going their way.
“And we continue to push each other in the gym and stay together. I think that’s something super important for teams, like, going through losing streaks, is to be able to stay together,” said Van Sickle.
“Because going through tough times, it’s easy to be able to point fingers or be able just to be like, oh, well, it’s not going our way, and kind of just, like, roll over. But we’re really glad with this team that no matter what, we always come out and we’re like, okay, new day, let’s go. Let’s keep a positive attitude. Let’s keep trying to improve, like, work,” she added.
The challenging stretch also tested Van Sickle as a leader, but she credited her teammates for stepping up and guiding themselves on the court, something that made her role much easier while reinforcing how tightly knit the Chameleons have become.
“So it makes my job a lot easier. But I think everyone is leading themselves very well and everyone’s helping out. So it’s not just like, you know, specifically like only a couple of people. It’s like, I think, cohesively all together,” said Van Sickle.
