Thea Gagate stepped onto the court at the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference without grand expectations.
But after leading the ZUS Coffee Thunderbelles to a post-elimination round berth with a 25-22, 25-17, 18-25, 25-17 victory over Capital1 on Thursday night, the league’s top overall rookie pick may need to start thinking bigger.
“I prefer to stay in the present and not jump ahead too quickly. Right now, our immediate goal is to build a solid core as a team,” said Gagate, the 6-foot-3 middle blocker who won a UAAP championship with La Salle.
Team captain Cloanne Mondoñedo orchestrated the offense with 24 excellent sets and added six points, while veteran Jovelyn Gonzaga delivered most of her eight attacks in the decisive fourth set, helping the Thunderbelles recover from a third-set stumble. Gagate, dominant at the net, contributed 13 points, including three blocks.
“This is a first for the franchise, and I’m incredibly proud of our team and my teammates,” Mondoñedo said. “Now, we need to come up with a solid strategy for the quarterfinals and work on it in practice.”
After sweeping the two-game play-in tournament, defeating the Cignal HD Spikers on Tuesday and the Solar Spikers later, ZUS Coffee has secured a best-of-three quarterfinal matchup against the Petro Gazz Angels.
“We need discipline and precise execution at this level,” said head coach Jerry Yee. “To go deeper into the playoffs, we have to minimize errors and impose our will on the court.”
Meanwhile, in the other match, Nxled swept Farm Fresh with sheer determination, securing a 25-17, 25-17, 25-18 victory in a no-bearing contest to cap off its campaign with promise.
For Rach Jorvina, the Chameleons’ final match in the conference was not an endpoint, but a stepping stone.
“This isn’t the end of our campaign—it’s the start of the next one,” said Jorvina, whose 20 excellent digs provided a strong defensive foundation in their dominant victory over the shorthanded Foxies.
Under new Italian head coach Ettore Guidetti, Nxled secured the morale-boosting win despite missing out on the quarterfinals, finishing the three-team play-in phase with a 1-1 record.