Petro Gazz Angels’ Brooke Van Sickle in the PVL All-Filipino Conference.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Brooke van Sickle delivered her best performance yet in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) as she faced one of the league’s most potent spikers.
And the Filipino-American got a front-row view of why Savannah Davison was last conference’s best scorer.
“I expected her to make points and she’s a fantastic player; she’s very physical, jumps high, hits extremely hard,” Van Sickle said of her Filipino-Canadian counterpart.
SCHEDULE: PVL All-Filipino Conference 2024
“I thought just even beyond her offensive game, her defense and passing was really well she had a really good all-around game so it was super fun to play against her,” she added after leading a Petro Gazz squad that surprised PLDT with a dominant 25-16, 25-23, 25-21 victory.
Coming into the tournament with high expectations following a Most Valuable Player performance in a preseason league, Van Sickle had a jittery start of nine points in the Angels’ victory over newcomer Strong Group. In her second game, she delivered 18 points but the Angels fell to Choco Mucho in a thrilling five-setter.
“I’ve talked about it with my teammates, too, before the game we’re just like ‘let’s focus on our side, if we take care of our business and keep the momentum and energy up and continue to fight and focus on our side, I think we’ll have success’ and it worked out,” she said.
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This time, she delivered 23 points and a win for Petro Gazz.
“It is my goal, right, to be consistent and I will definitely try to give it my 100 percent at all times,” she said. “Some games it just doesn’t work out and as a player, I don’t want to have that affect me. I see it as an opportunity to grow, to be able to learn lessons.”
Petro Gazz won its second game in three starts and Van Sickle will strive to get better with her squad.
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“As every game goes by, I am definitely getting more comfortable and building that relationship with my teammates,” she said. “They help me when I down, they’re just wonderful people and I can’t be more grateful that I am able to play with these type of women.”
“It was really nice that during [a] meeting all the girls were like ‘we just want you to know that we don’t doubt you or anything,’ they were just like supportive of me,” she added. “It was very nice to have that type of support from them.”
“Losing sucks, so everyone was upset especially it being very close but we cant dwell on it. In sports: you win or you lose and you have to be able to take the lessons you’ve learned and continue to move forward.”
The journey to their goal still has a long way to go, but getting the best out of her counterpart Davison, whom she hopes to see more of, can help Van Sickle continue building her game and confidence.