Hobbled by a knee injury at the start of the tournament, Ivy Lacsina chooses to focus on the present as Nxled faces an uphill climb to the 2024 Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference semifinals.
Lacsina suffered a right knee sprain prior to the season-opening conference, which slowed her down in the Chameleons’ first two games.
However, the former UAAP champion seemed to have finally found her groove after leading the team to a crucial 25-16, 25-16, 25-15 victory over Strong Group, where she scored a game-high 16 points on Thursday at the Philsports Arena.
Now fit again, the former UAAP champion said there’s no more time to dwell on what could have been as Nxled must sweep its remaining chances to have a shot at making it to the semifinals.
“Siguro po ang iniisip ko nalang po kung anong meron ngayon. Tapos na po ‘yun e, so parang nangyari na kung anong mga nangyari,” said Lacsina, who had personal conference-high 20 points in their previous loss to Chery Tiggo.
“So kailangan ko lang po bumawi sa team and sa sarili ko para mas ma-build ko ‘yung confidence ko. Siyempre lahat naman ng laro namin sayang kasi alam ko po na mas kaya po ‘yung team namin,” she added.
The Chameleons are currently in the middle of a four-way tie with Akari, Farm Fresh, and Galeries Tower for seventh place. Nxled’s only hope to advance from the eliminations is to sweep their remaining matches and hope that Petro Gazz, Cignal, and Chery Tiggo lose the rest of their assignments.
Lacsina and the rest of Nxled will return to the drawing board and prepare for their upcoming matches against Farm Fresh, Creamline, Capital 1, and the Angels, respectively.
“Siguro po kailangan talaga ng doble ‘yung pagpe-prepare po namin kasi po strong teams po ‘yung mga susunod naming games,” said Lacsina.
“So, babalik nalang po lang kami sa basics at ‘yung mga sistema po ni Coach Taka [Minowa] kasi mas alam po niya kung papaano po kami dapat gumalaw. So, kailangan lang po namin maging as one para matapos po namin ‘tong season na mas strong kesa sa last conference.”
