PVL: Petro Gazz scores 9th straight win, demolishes Nxled

Brooke van Sickle and the Petro Gazz Angels during a win over Nxled Chameleons in the PVL All-Filipino Conference. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines–Petro Gazz wrapped its PVL All-Filipino Conference preliminary round with a ninth consecutive victory after making quick work of Nxled, 25-19, 25-14, 25-17, Thursday night at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

Brooke van Sickle injected 17 points from 15 attacks, a block and an ace and MJ Phillips 14 points from nine kills, two blocks and three aces as Djanel Cheng tossed 14 excellent sets for the Angels.

SCHEDULE: PVL All-Filipino Conference 2024-2025

Lycha Ebon finished with 12 points, all but one from attacks, and Jaja Maraguinot had 10 excellent sets but the Chameleons still ended up as the bottom squad, with their 1-10 standing, and will battle top crew Creamline.

“Nxled’s a really good team, yes. No easy games,” coach Koji Tsuzurabara said.

“I think our team did a really good job this past preliminaries. I thought that we stayed consistent. It didn’t matter who was playing and to come out with only one loss, I feel like it’s good for confidence before moving to the playoffs. I’m just proud of the team and I hope we can continue with this energy,” Van Sickle said.

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Petro Gazz refused to prolong the game, manufacturing a 6-0 run for a comfortable 15-8 lead in the final frame. Van Sickle scored back-to-back with a kill off the block and down the line before two consecutive aces by Donnalyn Paralejas gave the Angels a 23-12 edge.

But Paralejas committed a service error after sending the ball to the net, Ethan Arce had an attack error, AA Adolfo was blocked by Chiara Permentilla who then landed a cross-court hit next to cut the Nxled’s deficit to seven.

Van Sickle nailed an offspeed attack as Permentilla responded with a down the line before Myla Pablo’ cross-court settled the match.

“Now that it’s the playoffs, it doesn’t matter that we won 10 games, it’s basically a clean slate and everyone’s gonna be gunning for the top, so I think we just have to embrace the pressure, be able to take every single rep seriously and continue to try to push each other and hold each other accountable,” Van Sickle said.