By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Chery Tiggo Pro Crossovers just bagged its second-straight win after dominating Gerflor, 25-19, 25-20, 25-18, in the ongoing Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Invitational Conference last July 13, 2023, held at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.
Mylene Paat showed her young teammates how to get it done after firing a team-high 15-point production built from 10 successful attacks.
After a sub-par performance during their thrilling five-set victory over the Akari Chargers, the team’s veteran main gunner had a much-needed bounce-back game to put the Crossovers in a good position for a playoff race.
Paat was all over the floor for Chery Tiggo, helping the middle blocking department after tallying four successful blocks while also scoring one service ace.
Seeing how Paat performed then energized Chery Tiggo’s upcoming superstar outside hitter Eya Laure who started to punish Gerflor’s coverage midway through the second set.
Laure’s power and tremendous decision-making powered the Crossovers to a convincing second-set finish and continued to roll in the third and final set.
The duo of Cza Carandang and Pauline Gaston then joined Paat and Laure’s offensive party after contributing on the offensive end.
Despite earning two-straight wins already, Chery Tiggo’s head coach Aaron Velez stressed that his team still needs to work on their chemistry and defensive communication.
“Masayang masaya kami sa nilaro ng lahat ng players. Definitely, there are still a lot to improve on. Kailangan namin maging mabilis yung start namin. I think that’s one thing that we have to make up for and I like the fact that everybody was able to step inside the court,” said Velez after the win.
Former UP standout Alyssa Bertolano continued her stellar start for Gerflor and again led her squad with 15 points built from 12 successful attacks but still weren’t enough to help her team notch a single set.
