It was a dreadful two weeks for Petro Gazz, which won its first four games before losing the next four in the 2023 Premier Volleyball League Second All-Filipino Conference.
Finally, on Tuesday, the Angels halted their four-game skid, but not without some anxious moments.
They needed to escape an off-a-win Farm Fresh, 25-22, 19-25, 25-16, 26-24 at the Philsports Arena.
Petro Gazz convincingly won over Galeries, Gerflor, NXLED, and F2 Logistics, defeating all in straight sets.
However, a downward spiral followed.
The Angels suffered losses against Chery Tiggo (four sets), Creamline (five), Cignal (four), and Choco Mucho (four). This put them at an even 4-4, with their semifinals chances in shambles before boosting their chances with the win against the Foxies.
Head coach Timmy Sto. Tomas rued what happened during that nightmare slump.
“For the past four games, medyo nawawalan kami ng patience sa loob ng court, knowing that we’re always up by like four, five points,” lamented Sto. Tomas, who is in his first conference as the chief tactician.
“But then again, maddrop yung set or magiging close fight yung laban bigla.”
He added, “It’s more of how you’re going to handle yung mga ganung situations, patience inside the court, mental toughness, disiplina sa kailangan gawin buti naman ngayon medyo nagkaroon ng light and nakita na tinatry ng girls na maging patient sa loob ng court and sumunod sa sistema habang nagpo-progress sila.”
At 5-4, the Angels are in solo sixth and are just 1.5 games behind fourth-running 6-2 Cignal, which is playing Chery Tiggo at the time of publishing.
Despite receiving losses from teams higher than them in the standings, Sto. Tomas saw it as a source of motivation for his players to keep moving forward.
“Yun nga, like I’ve said earlier, it’s more of motivation for us to keep on performing well. Yun nga, given that medyo mabibigat yung mga nakalaban namin these past few games,” he said.
“Those teams only kept us moving forward, so given na mabigat yung laban namin, nag-improve din yung skills namin kasi we were faced with teams na high caliber din, so with that, kaya medyo mas nakaayos yung laro namin today.”
Petro Gazz looks to close the elimination round on a three-game winning streak, facing Akari on Saturday and PLDT on December 5, to ensure a better standing.
They will also hope that those above them will lose some of their matches.
