Stix Horton was the element of surprise that the fourth-seeded BanKo Perlas Spikers kept under their sleeves against Petro Gazz in Game One of the 2019 PVL Reinforced Conference best-of-three semifinals last Wednesday.
Still, it was not enough to stagger the league-leaders, as BanKo suffered a four-set defeat at the hands of the Angels.
Moreover, the Perlas Spikers are on the brink of elimination, and a loss in Game Two on Saturday will boot them out of championship contention.
It will also cut Horton’s stint with the Perlas Spikers short. But the 5-foot-10 spiker bared that the magnitude of the situation will not be enough to weigh her down.
“No pressure. No pressure at all, just to have fun,” said Horton, who played for the Cignal HD Spikers in the 2018 PSL Grand Prix.
“They said to come out here and just bring energy to the team.”
After BanKo parted ways with Yasemin Yildrim, Horton, who reached out and expressed her desire to play for the Perlas Spikers back in February, was eyed to fill the shoes of the Turkish reinforcement.
And she caught wind of the development on Sunday, just three days before the semifinal round. She then met with her new team two days later.
“I arrived here Tuesday morning. Yes, [I only had a] very short preparation,” she recalled. “It was good. The girls were really nice, the coaches were really straightforward.
“The girls are really open and really nice, and they love the way I dance and I love the way they dance. It’s like a great match.”
Given the short amount of time to adjust and prepare, Horton still finished with 11 points and nine excellent digs in her BanKo debut.
The 27-year-old also believes that the team can still get better from here on out as they try to extend the series to a rubber match.
“I think we showed a little bit in the third set so I know moving forward, we’re really going to be really good,” she said. “I hope that with more practices, we’ll be able to perform better especially me. Today was not a good game for me.
“So, I hope on Saturday, it will be a better game.”
