Petro Gazz Angels’ Brooke Van Sickle wins PVL MVP. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Brooke Van Sickle capped her PVL debut with the All-Filipino Conference MVP award.
The Filipino-American sensation on Sunday earned her first MVP in the Philippines after leading Petro Gazz to a bronze medal finish despite losing to Chery Tiggo in five sets in Game 2 at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Van Sickle was the top scorer of the elimination round with a total of 229 points built on 188 spikes as the third-best attacker with 37.7% success rate, the top server with a total of 19 aces and 0.48 average per set, and fourth-best blocker with 22 blocks 0.55 average per set.
The US NCAA Division 1 product averaged 21.3 points in the three-game semifinals only to miss the chance to advance to the finals. She unleashed a career-high 36 points in Game 1 of the bronze series. She was also a top-five receiver with 38.3% efficiency and No.7 best digger with 3.3 digs per set.
“Just very grateful for my teammates. It’s a six-man sport. I won’t be able to do it without them. It’s just icing on top, to be able to do a podium finish, it was good,” said Van Sickle. “I thought Chery Tiggo did a fantastic job, we could have potentially played three (games,) but things happened and I’m just happy to help my team.”
Last year’s MVP and Choco Mucho star Sisi Rondina, who was the No.2 scorer in the elimination round with 217 points, won the Best Outside Spiker after settling for another silver medal finish.
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Jema Galanza earned the other Best Outside Spiker plum after Creamline pulled off a come-from-behind 20-25, 25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 15-11 victory over Choco Mucho in Game 2.
Galanza racked up a total of 168 points in a stacked Creamline squad for her fifth nod in the position and emerging as the Finals MVP of the All-Filipino Conference after capturing their eighth crown.
Another Angel, Aiza Maizo-Pontillas brought home an individual award, winning the Best Opposite Spiker, her first individual recognition in five years, after tallying 122 points, good for 13th in the league.
Creamline veteran Pangs Panaga won her sixth Best Middle Blocker plum, winning with Choco Mucho’s Maddie Madayag. Panaga and Madayag topped the blocking department with averages of 0.69 and 0.50 blocks per set, respectively.
Kyle Negrito won her first Best Setter, becoming the second Cool Smasher to win the plum after eight-time winner Jia De Guzman, whom she filled in the big shoes when the ace playmaker played in Japan.
Negrito was No.2 in setting in the elimination round with 4.6 excellent sets per frame.
Choco Mucho defensive specialist Thang Ponce earned her second straight Best Libero award after emerging the best among the semifinalists in digging with 5.08 digs per set.
Statistics used to deliberate the awardees are from the eliminations to the semifinals. The semifinalists were eligible for the individual awards.
The Nxled Chameleons earn the league’s Fair Play award after having the most green cards in the tournament.