Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—After missing its first finals in seven conferences, Petron knew it had to go for the next best thing.
The Blaze Spikers did just that in bagging the bronze medal in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference.
And no one displayed more heart for Petron than the explosive Cherry Rondina.
Cramps and all, Rondina led all scorers with 33 points to lead the Blaze Spikers over the Foton Tornadoes, 28-26, 25-27, 25-21, 24-26, 15-12, Saturday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“My legs were already cramping up and I just thought of the day when I experienced the same thing in the UAAP against FEU, I just told myself that I can do this,” said Rondina in Filipino.
“Coach Shaq (Delos Santos), coach Ian (Fernandez), my teammates were all giving me advice so I told myself that this pain is nothing.”
Petron also needed every ounce from Rondina’s offense as the Tornadoes Blue Energy held an 11-9 lead late in the fifth set.
Rondina lived up to her “Cherry Bomb” nickname and scored five the Blaze Spikers’ last six points including the rocket that gave Petron the bronze.
“We won’t have any games after this, we’ll get that in the next conference but not in this one,” said Rondina. “We won’t lose anything if we gave it our all so we just have to play and that’s the one thing I had in my mind right now.”