PVL: Brooke Van Sickle, Petro Gazz toughened by stunning loss
Petro Gazz Angels’ Brooke Van Sickle during a PVL All-Filipino quarterfinals game against ZUS Coffee Thunderbelles. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Brooke Van Sickle and the Petro Gazz Angels are bringing their biggest lesson from a hard-fought series with ZUS Coffee heading ito the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference semifinals.
Petro Gazz needed to learn the hard way after losing Game 1 and falling to the brink of elimination, but Van Sickle willed them back to a series comeback with a 25-21, 25-19, 25-23 win in Game 3 to catch the last bus ride to the semis on Tuesday at Philsports Arena.
READ: PVL: Petro Gazz ousts ZUS Coffee to complete semifinals cast
Van Sickle, who had 24 points in the rubber match, stressed they couldn’t afford to commit the same mistakes in the semifinals round-robin with defending champion Creamline, Choco Mucho, and Akari.
“I feel like we all learned it from the first [game]. You can’t start off flat. The teams, especially now are just gonna eat us up if we come out flat like that. And now we’re playing other veterans teams that have won championships [like] Creamline, and other teams are just absolutely gunning for it,” said Van Sickle.
“These players are just really physical, like, Sisi (Rondina). So now we have to have the mindset that these teams, they have more firepower. You see how the PVL, it’s been all sorts of ups and downs, and you don’t know who wants it more. So we just better come out,” she added.
Petro Gazz Angels during a PVL All-Filipino quarterfinals game against ZUS Coffee Thunderbelles. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Their Game 1 loss — only their second this conference after falling to Creamline on opening day — was a tough wake-up call for Van Sickle and the Angels.
“Losing sucks. It’s not fun. I feel like you learn your biggest lessons through losses because you’re forced to look at yourself as a whole, as a team, and really figure out what needs to be better and what can’t be excusable. And it was heartbreaking after the [Game 1],” said Van Sickle.
READ: PVL: Brooke Van Sickle a hero, lifesaver to ‘biggest fan’
“We talked as a team saying, hey, that’s not Petro Gazz way. I know we can come out with more energy and just play better volleyball. We just challenged ourselves and were able to be together as a team. I thought we came out second game firing…and it definitely transitioned to today.”
Despite pulling off a series comeback, the reigning PVL MVP still tipped her hat to the scrappy Thunderbelles, who rose from the play-in round to put the Angels on the brink of elimination.
“ZUS is a fantastic team. They’re just getting better and better and it’s really cool to see. I keep saying this, I think they’re one of the better teams of defense. They’re so scrappy and they just have this attitude when it comes to defense,” she said of ZUS Coffee.
“That’s awesome and I hope that inspires the rest of PVL. It pushes us in really awesome ways. As a hitter, it’s hard playing them because they’re just gonna dig the ball and they’re just gonna ping it back over. When you’re getting a kill, they’re always touching it like two times to three times always and it’s stressful, but it’s really cool to see.”
Petro Gazz has four days to prepare for its semis round-robin against defending champion Creamline on Saturday at Ynares Center Antipolo.
