Confetti blew around her, people celebrated within a few feet away from her.
After 13 games in this league, and several more in the other, she finally had a medal swinging around her neck.
It was a silver.
The gold medallists were a few feet away from Cha Cruz. The confetti was for champions.
As the confetti stopped, and people stormed the court, Cruz shared some moments with fans.
It was just minutes after her Shopinas lost to the powerful Petron, 25-17, 22-25, 30-28, 25-17, in the Philippine Super Liga All-Filipino Cup.
Cruz was crowned the Best Outside Spiker in the tournament but she wanted the bigger trophy.
Before playing in the PSL All-Filipino Cup Finals, Cruz played in the other volleyball league and endured a five-setter against some of the players that she fought in the finals.
Fatigue may have creeped, but her mind told her to just push it away.
“I just told myself that it’s very seldom that I get this kind of opportunity and not everyone gets this kind off opportunity,” Cruz said. “I will still give my best.”
Her best produced 13 points and shocked Petron in the second set and nearly the third set.
In a sad twist of fate, she was not the princess in this story book. She was just a minor character that got mentioned in a few paragraphs.
But Cruz knows her team gave it their best for all for the spectators that wanted some fireworks.
“There are so many people who want to witness a great game,” she said as fans started to make their way toward her, attempting to get a picture with their felled princess. “We still gave it our best.”