Cignal head coach Shaq Delos Santos heaved a sigh of relief on Wednesday night.
Why? Because through the team’s opening day victory against defending champion Chery Tiggo, the HD Spikers have already tied their win count from the previous Premier Volleyball League Open Conference.
“Ako sobrang happy na parang nabunutan din ako ng tinik kasi siyempre dala dala ko yun e,” shared Delos Santos moments after Cignal’s 25-22, 22-25, 25-22, 25-18 win against the reigning champions at the Paco Arena.
“Parang siyempre ako first time ko rin mag head coach that time sa Cignal.”
Tough was the previous conference for Delos Santos and the HD Spikers.
Heading into the tournament without a couple of its key players in Alohi Robbins-Hardy and Mylene Paat, Cignal plummeted down the Open Conference standings, eventually ending the conference with a league-worst 1-8 standing.
Heart-wrenching as it was, Delos Santos quickly moved on from the mishap and focused on rebuilding the team for the next meet.
“Actually siyempre unang naramdaman namin don lahat kami sad kami but we need to accept talaga kasi sports ‘to, alam mo naman na ganun lagi,” said the former Petron tactician, who won four Philippine Superliga crowns.
“Minsan sa baba ka, minsan sa taas.”
The Cignal brass still expressed its support to the former national team head coach. In fact, the management even brought in key cogs in Ria Meneses, Ces Molina, Jerrili Malabanan, and Angeli Araneta, to name a few, to bolster the team’s 2022 campaign.
And for that, he’s eternally grateful.
“Sobrang thankful din talaga ako sa management kasi grabe yung suporta talaga and trust na binibigay sa amin. Talagang wala akong masabi even yung players grabe sila mag alaga sa amin,” expressed Delos Santos.
With the stars finally aligning, Delos Santos is setting his sights on repaying the management’s trust.
And with the right players finally, at his disposal, the ball is now on Delos Santos’ court to make it work.
“So ako, especially itong first game namin yun nga kailangan makapagperform agad nang maayos [kahit] ‘di naman maging perfect or what, maging good lang kami sa lahat ng ginagawa namin,” said Delos Santos.
“I’m so happy kasi siyempre ayun, nakuha namin yung first game namin, and then nag perform yung mga players. Siyempre ibang group ng people na rin ‘to, alam natin kung paano sila mag laro so yun nga kung paano rin namin sila ihahandle hanggang dulo kasi siyempre alam naman natin sa bracket namin ang tindi rin, actually sa kabila rin naman lahat ng teams kasi palaban talaga.”
