Playing in her first Rebisco Classico match, Erica Staunton lived by the words of her former college coach to calm her nerves and steer Creamline to a close straight-set triumph over Choco Mucho on Saturday night.
Staunton said that remembering what one of her college coaches back at the University of Georgia helped her shake off the jitters and move past a slow first-set performance against the Flying Titans.
“So it’s just really enjoying the moment and then I had a coach, when I was like my last year in college at Georgia who kinda had this one saying, I hope I get it right, it’s ‘play for the two, not for the 30,000’,” said the 24-year-old outside spiker.
“Basically you’re playing the same game whether it’s like your two best friends are watching in the gym and you’re playing loose, playing to have fun. You’re playing the same game as if you’ve been playing in front of 30,000 people, so I’m just trying to get back into that,” she continued.
With her focus back, Staunton spearheaded Creamline’s attack, especially in the third set where they rallied back from 14-23 down en route to a 25-16, 25-19, 31-29 bounce-back victory at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
(C) PVL Images
The Northeastern University product posted a game-high 19 points to go along with seven excellent digs as the Cool Smashers tied Chery Tiggo for the fourth to fifth places with identical 5-2 records.
“We’re playing the game that we love no matter how many are watching, so that kinda helped settle the nerves a little bit and then just really like embracing the number of fans that are here that loves Choco Mucho and Creamline,” she expressed.
“It’s just honestly incredible, the amount of people that love volleyball in the Philippines. It’s great.”
Staunton said that playing against Choco Mucho in front of a packed venue full of passionate fans has been one of the highlights of her young career, which is why she relished every minute of the match.
“Honestly, that was like some of the most… I mean hands down the most fun volleyball environment that I have ever been a part of. So I knew coming into it that there were gonna be a lot of fans, there were gonna be a lot of eyes watching,” she said.
“I kinda just wanted to focus on enjoying it because you never know if I’m ever gonna play in a crowd like that again.”
