Savannah Davison wore her heartbreak on her sleeve.
The PLDT star shone bright with a game-high 34 points, but her late errors in the crucial fifth set haunted her as the High Speed Hitters bowed to Choco Mucho in Game 2 of the 2024-25 Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference quarterfinals on Thursday night.
Davison, aiming to help the High Speed Hitters force a deciding Game 3, started the fifth set on a hot streak. She scored all five points in a quick 5-1 run that gave PLDT an early four-point advantage over the Flying Titans.
However, the Fil-Canadian hitter struggled to maintain her momentum, committing three crucial attack errors that allowed Choco Mucho to respond with a pivotal 8-1 run, giving them a 9-6 lead.
Davison managed to recover her rhythm, but it wasn’t enough as Sisi Rondina and Mars Alba delivered the decisive blows that sealed the Flying Titans’ series-clinching win in Game 2, 25-15, 12-25, 25-23, 21-25, 15-13, sending them to the semifinals.
“Actually, my mind goes to the errors I had. It was the first couple of things—the three, four errors I had in the fifth set. It’s hard kasi you want to win so bad but you have to keep it on the court,” said Davison, who scored nine points in the final set to finish with a game-high 34 markers.
The former NCAA Division I standout acknowledged that facing a tough opponent like Choco Mucho, led by former league MVP Rondina, added to their challenges.
“Parang no words. It was a long [conference] and we just got, I guess, the tougher bracket. But we’re not here to complain, we’re here to play. Yun lang. It boils down to the last couple of points, and they just weren’t in our favor.”
(C) PVL Images
Despite the heartbreaking finish, PLDT delivered one of its strongest campaigns in recent years, finishing the preliminary round with an 8-3 record to secure the fourth seed.
The High Speed Hitters then defeated ZUS Coffee in the qualifying round to book their quarterfinal showdown with the fifth-seeded Choco Mucho.
“I guess it’s a team sport. It takes a village — coaches, management — to really pull through. It just goes to show that regardless of one person, you need everybody,” said Davison.
“We played really well today, but like I said, it didn’t swing in our favor. It was actually really heavy, but mind over matter. I didn’t want to say that out loud before the game. In just a couple of days, four days, it’s a lot pero it’s not a lot at the same time,” she added.
With their All-Filipino campaign concluded, Davison and her teammates are shifting their focus to the 2025 AVC Champions League, where they will represent the Philippines alongside Creamline and Petro Gazz.
“It helps because now we get to look forward to something else, I guess, maybe after a couple of days off. It’s a very big tournament. It’s international. It gives us an opportunity to show our talents on a different platform, and that’s a really good experience to look forward to,” said Davison.
“Hopefully, we learn from this and we show out come the AVC.”
