By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Choco Mucho Flying Titans continued to roll in the opening week of the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Invitational Conference after sweeping Foton, 25-19, 25-19, 25-14, last July 1, 2023, held at the FilOil EcoOil Center.
After a dominant debut match against the Farm Fresh Foxies last June 29, 2023, the Flying Titans showed they still got enough gas left in the tank and banked on the prowess of newly-acquired superstar outside hitter Sisi Rondina.
The former University of Santo Tomas (UST) star was automatic once again on the offensive end and dropped a game-high 19 points built from 15 successful attacks.
Still adjusting to the mechanics of indoor volleyball after spending her last three years in the beach volleyball scene, Rondina is still as deadly as she was during her Philippine Superliga (PSL) days and is now the leading scorer of the Choco Mucho squad in two games.
Rondina opened the match on a high note, punishing the Foton middle blockers with her powerful hits while also helping on the defensive end, proof is her three blocks tallied alongside six successful digs.
After Rondina’s hot start, her teammates, namely Caitlyn Viray and Des Cheng, also helped out in the scoring department.
The duo handled the scoring load at the start of the second set and formally went in the zone when Deanna Wong kept on finding them to help them gain their attacking confidence.
Foton tried to steal set two when they mounted a mini-scoring run led by Shaya Adorador but Rondina scored timely spikes to seal the deal and help Choco Mucho enter the third set with a comfortable 2-0 lead.
It was then all Choco Mucho in the third and deciding set as Foton had no answers to the Flying Titans’ blazing offense while also committing tons of unforced errors.
“Sobrang masaya kami sa naging resulta. Sa pagkapanalo namin ‘tong ngayon, unti-unti na kaming natututo manalo kasi yun naman gusto namin mangyari step by step talaga,” said Choco Mucho head coach Dante Alinsunurin.
