After two hours and 20 minutes of top-notch volleyball, Deanna Wong could not hold back her emotions.
Her first instinct was to look for Jem Ferrer, who was celebrating her 32nd birthday. Once she found her, Wong gave her mentor a tight hug.
Euphoria was in the air after Choco Mucho earned a historic first-ever Finals appearance in the Premier Volleyball League after nipping Cignal in four sets in the do-or-die semis, 25-20, 23-25, 26-24, 25-23, on Tuesday at the Philsports Arena.
The 25-year-old setter was often questioned during the times that the Flying Titans were missing the podium. In the first two conferences of the ongoing season, Choco Mucho placed seventh both times.
Already assured of a podium finish, the first in Choco Mucho’s eight conferences in the league, Wong is just grateful to be a part of the team that ended the drought.
“Just really grateful and blessed to be here,” said Wong after their game to set up a Finals date with Creamline.
“As a team naman, yung una naming goal was to be part of the Top Four, being part of the championship sobrang blessed and grateful na nakarating kami dito,” added the Cebuana pride.
Wong orchestrated the Flying Titans’ masterful attack to be on top after four tight sets, tossing 24 excellent sets as five Choco Mucho players barged double figures in scoring.
Sisi Rondina led the group with 21 points, while Kat Tolentino added 17. Maddie Madayag and Cherry Nunag chipped in 12 apiece.
Isa Molde dropped 10 points in the game.
Although extremely happy, Wong now looks forward to the best-of-three Finals where she will have an individual matchup with Cool Smashers playmaker Kyle Negrito.
Wong and Negrito finished 1-2 in the Best Setters statistics after the elimination round with the former tallying 5.08 per set while the latter managed 4.88 per frame.
Game 1 of the championship series will be on Thursday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena while action shifts to the SMART Araneta Coliseum in Game on Saturday.
If necessary, Game 3 will be next Tuesday, still at the Big Dome.
“What we see every game siyempre si Kyle naman magaling na setter talaga siya no? Hindi naman siguro aabot yung Creamline (sa Finals) if it wasn’t for her,” she said about her Cool Smashers counterpart.
“So it would also be a challenge for me kung ano yung matutunan ko sa kanya and hopefully, kung ano rin yung matutunan namin sa buong team maiapply din namin sa paglalaro,” she continued.
“Hindi naman yun bago kasi nung UAAP din nagkalaban na rin kami so it’s gonna be an exciting challenge.”
