Kat Tolentino believes that sticking to head coach Dante Alinsunurin’s system played a key role in Choco Mucho’s 3-0 start in the 2024 Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference.
After a stellar debut over Nxled, Choco Mucho managed to survive a difficult week which featured a pair of huge victories over contenders Petro Gazz and Chery Tiggo to take the solo lead in the standings with a 3-0 record.
“I think it’s sticking to Coach Dante’s system even if whatever team we do play, we can’t control what they do and just control our side and I think that’s we did earlier, we stuck to the defensive pattern in blocking and floor defense,” said Tolentino.
“That’s what we have to continue to be disciplined about because teams will have great players it’s what we can do on our own that will decide if we can win or not,” she added.
The 6-foot-2 opposite spiker out of Ateneo delivered 17 points on 13 attacks and four blocks to help Choco Mucho close out the week with a win over the Crossovers.
Tolentino added that their five-set escape of the Angels last Tuesday was a good learning experience for the team, which proved to have been very valuable when they slipped up in the third set against Chery Tiggo.
“I think it was a good learning experience from the first game [this week] in Petro Gazz,” said Tolentino, who also had 17 points on 13 attacks and four kill blocks against Petro Gazz.
“I saw how we really ended the sets this game even if we lost the third it’s not something we dwelled on like Petro Gazz. Yeah I think we’re just continuing to learn every game and I look forward to the upcoming ones,” she added.
The former UAAP champion hopes that everything they learned against the Angels and the Crossovers will translate when they face off against Cignal on March 14.
“We’re just gonna prepare the same as always we go back to training and move on from this win and learn more we have a long time to prepare hopefully we can learn more and get more chemistry.”