Galeries Tower High Risers’ France Ronquillo in the PVL All-Filipino Conference. — PVL PHOTO
France Ronquillo powered Galeries Tower to its best franchise record in the PVL All-Filipino Conference after sweeping Farm Fresh, 25-18, 25-23, 25-16, on Saturday at PhilSports Arena.
Ronquillo dished out a career-high 20 points built around 16 attacks, three aces and a block to help the Highrisers despite being no longer in contention for a semifinal spot with a 3-6 standing currently at ninth spot.
“The feeling is great. It’s always good to celebrate a win after a couple of losses,” Highrisers assistant coach Godfrey Okumu said after snapping a two-game skid it suffered from Akari and Choco Mucho previously.
Roma Joy Doromal supported Ronquillo with 10 points coming from nine attacks and a block to deal the Foxies their fifth consecutive loss for a 2-7 record.
“Gusto ko lang makapag-laro magbigay ng effort para basta manalo yung team,” Ronquillo said on the heels of her best performance. “Hindi ko in-expect na ganon yung score ko.”
It did not matter for the Highrisers that they were just playing for a much better finish as they outplayed Farm Fresh in virtually all the aspects of the game using what they have been working for in practice.
After solid performances in the first two frames, Galeries Tower refused to let go of its chance to be better and stormed to an 11-7 lead in the final set.
“Sa game ngayon masasabi ko na stronger chemistry kami kasi nakita ko kanina na masaya kaming lahat naglalaro na kahit magka-error yung isa ‘okay bawi lang, sasaluhin ka namin’ kaya parang nakita ko yung unti-unti nang nagiging ok yung chemistry namin,” the former National University cog said.
Despite committing errors on their end, the Highrisers managed to keep themselves afloat with Doromal, Audrey Paran, who added eight points like middle blocker Norielle Ipac, and Ronquillo taking turns attacking the defense of the Foxies.
Caitlin Viray made an effort to keep Farm Fresh in the game with a kill of the block but Doromal scored back-to-back down the line hits to make the Foxies stagnant at 16.
“Yung mga past games, yung atmosphere sa dugout nung sunod-sunod yung talo, lagi kami napapagalitan kasi hindi ganon yung tine-training namin sa pinapakita namin sa laro,” Ronquillo said.
“Mabigat yung feeling na bakit pag sa training napapakita namin [kung ano meron kami], pag sa game hindi tapos nitong game na to tyinaga talaga namin na kung anong in-effort namin sa training, ipapakita namin sa laro,” she added.
Ronquillo brought Galeries Tower home after scoring three of the last five points including the last two.
“Yes we are not in contention, but what we are looking into is to finish strong so that we leave a statement for the next upcoming games. I think that’s the most important thing for us … that when we come to the next conference we pick it up from there,” Okumu said.
Galeries Tower still has two tough matches remaining in its calendar in Petro Gazz, which it faces next Saturday, and Chery Tiggo.