Following a foot injury that sidelined her for some time, Myla Pablo has regained her role as one of the main hitters of Motolite in the PVL Open Conference.
The 5-foot-10 outside hitter is steadily reverting to her consistent offensive form, tallying identical 14-point outings for Motolite in their final two matches in the elimination round.
But while she appears to be in good shape as of late, Pablo admitted that the metatarsal sprain she sustained midway through the conference still causes problems whenever she sees action.
“Sa ngayon kasi, hindi pa ako one hundred-percent talaga kasi medyo masakit pa ‘yung paa ko,” the National University product disclosed.
“Actually hindi ako makapag-approach ng maayos kasi nga ito ‘yung pang-approach ko sa kanan eh, kaya hindi ko mabigay ‘yung bigat sa paa ko kapag tumatalon ako.”
Pablo, though, has to continued playing through pain since she wants to steer Motolite past the semifinals round. After all, she and her sisters-in-arms are going up against the hottest team in the league — defending champions Creamline Cool Smashers, who recently completed a 16-game sweep of the preliminaries.
“Well sabi nga ng doktor namin, hangga’t ‘di ka nagpapahinga, hindi gagaling ‘yung paa mo. ‘Yun ‘yung mindset ko sa game, na parang hindi ko iniisip ‘yung sakit eh. Kumbaga alam ko kailangan ako ng team, lalo na ng coaches ko,” the 26-year-old shared.
“Sabi ko nga sa team ko, ibibigay ko ‘yung best ko na kung ano ‘yung dapat kong ginawa noong first round, gagawin ko kahit alam ko na hindi ako one hundred-percent.”
The two-time PVL Most Valuable Player is also well aware that Creamline will be at full strength strength when the best-of-three semis series goes into full swing on Saturday. Still, she vows that they’ll spare no effort come Game One.
“Siyempre, Alyssa [Valdez] and Jia [Morado] talaga, ‘yun ‘yung pamatay nila sa team nila eh,” Pablo said of the national team campaigners, who are set to return to the country on Friday from a training camp in Japan.
“So sabi nga namin, bilog naman ‘yung bola. Pero paghihirap[an] namin na makuha ‘yung Game One.”
