PLDT High Speed Hitters. MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — PLDT is eager to keep winning after its wing spiker Jovy Prado was ruled out of the 2023 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) season due to an ACL injury.
The High Speed Hitters lost do-it-all hitter Prado, who suffered an ACL tear in her left after landing awkwardly in their straight-set loss to the Creamline Cool Smashers last week.
Dedicating its campaign to Prado, PLDT, led by Mean Mendrez and Dell Palomata, survived Chery Tiggo in five sets, 25-21, 16-25, 25-23, 25-27, 15-12, on Tuesday for the last ticket to the Invitational Conference semifinals.
“When she announced her injury before our game, we told her: It’s okay ate Jovy. Don’t be sad. We got this and we will win this game for you,” said Mendrez in Filipino after tallying 16 points off 13 attacks and three blocks including the game-winning rejection on Eya Laure.
“As coach told us, even if we lost one player, we didn’t lack the strength. Our motivation is to offer this conference for Ate Jovy,” she added.
Mendrez joined hands with Palomata to put on the finishing touches in the fifth set, surviving the 29-point explosion of Mylene Paat to complete the semis cast with Creamline, F2 Logistics, and Cignal as well as Japanese squad Kurashiki Ablaze and Vietnam’s Kinh Bac-Bac Ninh.
“Our mindset was to win the game. It was so intense. Our opponents really did well and we used that challenge as motivation to push ourselves,” said Palomata, who had 14 points including two blocks. “Our team really worked hard to reach the semis. We poured all our hardships from our training into this game. We didn’t give up and we even fought harder.”
PLDT, which will carry over a 0-1 record due to its first-round loss to Creamline, kicks off its semis campaign against Cignal (0-1) on Thursday at 4 p.m.
The High Speed Hitters are eager to win more games for Prado, launching their semis campaign ‘fight with pride for Prado’ as Mendrez also looks forward to playing better in another round-robin since they will be facing two foreign teams.
“It will be a good experience facing the two foreign teams because we will learn a lot from them and it will be more challenging for our team,” she said.
“We will take it process by process. We have to train harder and show maturity in the semis,” Palomata said.