Choco Mucho coach Dante Alinsunurin during a press conference.–PVL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — After winning a bronze medal in the VTV Cup in Vietnam last August, Choco Mucho is determined to reach the podium for the first time in the season-ending Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference.
The Flying Titans had a fruitful break, winning four of their seven games against international squads from Vietnam, Japan, Australia, and South Korea with Sisi Rondina bagging the Best Outside Spiker award and Maddie Madayag copping the Best Middle Blocker in Lao Cai, Vietnam.
Coach Dante Alinsunurin, who will be coaching Choco Mucho in his third conference, hopes their overseas achievement will finally put the club on the podium as it has yet to reach the top three since joining the PVL in 2019.
“What’s important for us is we have to use our VTV Cup [bronze] as an inspiration this third conference because it’s a good start for us. That’s where we experienced a podium finish. We have to continue what we started, going to the third conference,” said Alinsunurin in Filipino during the press conference on Wednesday.
“During the first conference, our goal was to win games. In the second conference, we were able to win games but we still fell short. After showing our potential and earning a good result on the international stage, I told them that we should get our [podium finish] goal this conference,” he added.
Choco Mucho skipper Bea De Leon.–PVL PHOTO
Team captain Bea De Leon agreed with their coach, believing that they learned to play a “different style of volleyball” in Vietnam.
“I think the biggest learning we had in Vietnam was going against different kinds of teams all around, across the board. Everybody played a different style of volleyball. We had like a day or two to adjust to that. I think bringing that to the PVL tactical-wise, it’s a good job for us,” De Leon told reporters.
“Hopefully, it comes together here in the PVL. It’s really been our goal for the longest time and obviously, with that, we gained a lot of confidence as well,” she added.
De Leon is excited to see action in the biggest PVL yet, featuring 12 teams, as the Flying Titans, bannered by Rondina, Madayag, Deanna Wong, Kat Tolentino, Des Cheng, Caitlin Viray, and Denden Lazaro-Revilla, try to rise from seventh place last Invitationals and end a four-tournament semis drought.
“Hopefully, with the system being integrated by Coach Dante, we’d be able to translate to the court this time around, and really just get it together with the teams and everybody, all of the additional teams, plus a lot of crucial changes also across the board. We’re very, very excited,” she said.
Choco Mucho opens its campaign against its sister team and defending champion Creamline sans star setter Jia De Guzman on Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Alinsunurin believes that they have a chance to get their first win against Creamline since joining four years ago with their progress as long as they are able to execute the in-game adjustments.
“There is a bit of pressure because they are the defending champions. But I told the players that we already made it this far. We just need to continue doing our job and making adjustments in the game so we will have a chance to win the first game,” he said.