PVL: Chery Tiggo’s Eya Laure, Robles try to hold fort in Paat’s absence

Chery Tiggo’s Mylene Paat, who is injured, watches on the bench during a game against Farm Fresh in the PVL All-Filipino Conference.–PVL PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Eya Laure and Cess Robles promise that the whole Chery Tiggo Crossovers will work together while leading scorer Mylene Paat continues to recover from a right foot injury in the 2023 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference.

Paat, the Reinforced Conference Most Valuable Player, was in uniform but didn’t play in Chery Tiggo’s  25-21, 25-23, 25-22 win over Farm Fresh on Tuesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Crossovers coach Aaron Velez said Paat’s foot is still swollen due to an injury she sustained after the Invitational Conference last August but he neither gave a specific diagnosis nor the timeline of her return.

“We’re making sure that she’s 100 percent. In the meantime, she still has 20 percent swelling on her foot. I’m not going into details but rest assured with the fire of Mylene, she is working her way to speed up her recovery,” said Velez in Filipino.

In the absence of Paat, Chery Tiggo banked on sisters EJ and Eya Laure as well as Robles, who scored nine of her 10 points in the third set where they fought back from a 10-18 deficit.

“We need to fill in the void left by Ate My inside the court. Her game and her leadership. That’s important for us to help the team,” said Robles.

Chery Tiggo’s Eya Laure.–PVL PHOTO

The younger Laure offers their games to their injured Paat, Alina Bicar, and Seth Rodriguez.

“This is for them. While they are out, we will play for them. This is for Chery and each one of us because we see the sacrifices and hard work of everyone. We want to gain the fruit of our hardships as a team,” said the star rookie in Filipino after scoring 14 points.

Velez lauded Robles after providing the spark off the bench to start their second All-Filipino campaign with a win.

“I’ll really give it to Princess and I hope she will be an inspiration and good example to her teammates because she’s always ready to deliver whenever she enters the court,” the Chery coach said.

The National University product, who emerged as UAAP Season 84 Finals MVP last year, said she didn’t give up on her team which led to her impressive game

“We shouldn’t stop until the score reaches 25. We heard our coaches pushing us to keep on fighting until we reach 25,” Robles said.