PVL: Improvement the goal as Nxled nears campaign’s end

Nxled Chameleon’s Ivy Lacsina against Farm Fresh Foxies defenders in the PVL All-Filipino Conference. –PVL PHOTO

As Nxled’s hopes for a Premier Volleyball League (PVL) semifinal spot grow dimmer, the Chameleons are shifting their focus on team developments even after notching a second consecutive win near the end of their All-Filipino Conference campaign.

“We cannot control the output of the other teams, we just make this team focus on improvement,” coach Taka Minowa said after Nxled survived a five-set thriller over Farm Fresh on Tuesday, 24-26, 25-20, 25-23, 20-25, 15-11.

“For sure, in the future, I want to make this team into a top four team, top contender in the PVL,” Minowa added after the Chameleons won their third game in eight matches overall.

Nxled’s victory over the Foxies can be for naught if PLDT, which is battling luckless Strong Group at press time, defeats the Athletics.The Chameleons will also have to face a huge challenge when they battle Creamline on Saturday.

“But for now, we just had six months only [as a team], so we still need to make a system more mature and then also [the] players need to be [more] mature and [stronger],” Minowa said.

There are hopes for that future if the Chameleons stay determined in refining themselves. Having a growing leadership role in her new team, Ivy Lacsina, who is not showing signs of a previous knee injury, led Nxled with 21 points.

Lycha Ebon, one of the consistent players for Nxled, scattered 17 points while Cams Victoria and Chiara Permentilla finished with 16 points each. Permentilla added eight excellent digs and 16 excellent receptions to her best outing this conference.

“We work on ourselves every day, and had a lot of games previously where we had regrets,” Ebon said in Filipino. “This will boost our morale going into our next game.”

Chinnie Arroyo led four other Foxies in twin digits with 19 points.“It (win) wasn’t only because I had a good game, it was a [team effort],” Permentilla said. “We prepared well for this game so we were very confident coming into this game.” INQ