Filipino-Canadian Savannah Davison, PLDT’s newest weapon, admitted that she felt the nerves in her Premier Volleyball League debut last Sunday.
Her first ever game in the Philippines happened at the fabled SMART Araneta Coliseum with more than 14,000 fans in attendance for the opening of the 2023 Second All-Filipino Conference.
But after that first game jitters, she has adjusted well and showed the High Speed Hitters what they can expect from her on Thursday.
Davison, a 5-foot-10 wing spiker, led PLDT’s 25-16, 25-16, 25-23 win over Akari by providing 19 points built on 14 attacks, three blocks, and two aces laced with seven digs and six receptions.
“I think the first game definitely took me by surprise. The fans are amazing, so supportive, but when you came from somewhere else it looks different, right?” said Davison, who played in US NCAA Division 1 back in college.
“I’m glad that I’m all acclimated, I’m used to it now, and I just kind of went in to this game as calm as I could be so I feel like when a team’s calm, we’ll do great so I think it’s good,” she continued.
Davison played four years in New Mexico State University before transferring to Oklahoma University for two more years.
Having played in Canada and the United States where volleyball was not really that popular compared to other sports, the 24-year-old Toronto native was shocked by the support of the Filipino fans in the PVL.
“I think the biggest shock like I said was the atmosphere. We have supportive fans back home in Canada, when I played in the States, but not as supportive as you know, Filipino arenas, right?” shared Davison.
“It’s a lot of pressure when you step in front of maybe 14, 15 thousand people and you’re like ‘Okay, let’s get this.’ So I think coming into this game particularly, I kind of brought it back to the first game. I was like ‘What do you wanna feel? How do you wanna feel? How do you wanna play?’ and kinda just cloud it out and really focus on the game,” she continued.
“I think the support here is more than I can imagine but that’s why the game has gotten so far in the Philippines.”
She netted 17 points in her debut but was inefficient on her spikes, going 16-of-67, compared to her performance against the Chargers where she went 14-of-39.
With her slowly adapting to head coach Rald Ricafort’ system, Davison said that the sky is the limit for this PLDT team.
“I mean this is only our second game so it’s pretty.. The roof is to the sky. There’s really no limit to what we’re gonna do come Game 3, Game 4 so I’m really excited to just spend more time with the girls,” exclaimed Davison.
“It’s a lot of communication, I ask him maybe 10 questions a day, more than that maybe. I think the depth of it, me coming in a little bit later than the other girls, changed a lot. The more time I spent with the girls the easier it gets. The more questions I ask, the easier it gets,” she said on what she’s doing to easily fit in.
