Petro Gazz needed to rely on a late challenge to successfully fend off defending champion Creamline in Game One of the 2023 Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference finals last Sunday.
But Angels star Grethcel Soltones said that she won’t let that happen again come Game Two as she vowed to be more aggressive in crunch time and take matters into her own hands to avoid the same situation from happening again.
“As a team, okay kami so far. Pero ‘yun nga, may kulang pa, lalo na ako.
“Kasi ‘yun nga, sobrang tiwala ng setters, and for me lang kanina, kasi medyo nag-choke ako noong second set. So mas pagbubutihin ko pa lalo. Sa akin, a personal goal ko na pag crucial, dapat akin,” said the former league MVP.
Ahead by one point, 25-24, in the fourth set, Angels head coach Oliver Almadro called a mid-rally challenge after the pair of Jia De Guzman and Ced Domingo attempted to block Soltones’ attack.
It proved to be the break that Petro Gazz needed to finally get one over the Cool Smashers as De Guzman was flagged for a net violation which ended the game in four sets, 25-22, 24-26, 25-23, 26-24, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Soltones was all over the floor in the Angels’ victory, tallying 14 points on 14 attacks to go along with 17 excellent digs to lead her side to their first win over the Rebisco-backed squad after 14 consecutive losses since 2019.
Almadro also said that he doesn’t want to leave anything to chance in the all-important Game Two knowing full well the capabilities of this Cool Smashers squad, who are playing in their first finals without team captain Alyssa Valdez.
“So, babasahin din namin ‘yun. At the end, alam namin na baka mangyari ulit ‘yun at dapat hindi kami magre-rely sa challenge. But the point is, it’s a break, and the Lord gave that point to us.”
