The PLDT High Speed Hitters are your inaugural PVL on Tour champions.
For the first time in Premier Volleyball League history, the PLDT High Speed Hitters can call themselves champions.
The High Speed Hitters on Sunday, August 17, overcame a massive scare from the Chery Tiggo Crossovers 25-17, 25-17, 19-25, 24-26, 15-8 to emerge as the inaugural PVL on Tour champions on Sunday, August 9, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
It was the one-two punch of Savi Davison and Mika Reyes who willed PLDT to victory, with Davison punching in a game-high 23 points and nine receptions, and Finals MVP Reyes with 20 points built on 13 attacks and seven huge blocks.
“Hindi ako religious na tao, pero inintindi ko lang nung pinag-pray namin na tumibay ‘yung team tsaka magkaroon ng tapang, maging resilient, ang binigay samin na challenge ‘yung na-experience namin last year: ‘Yung mga sayang, ‘yung mga heartbreaks,” reflected head coach Rald Ricafort.
“Tinake ko nalang personally na nire-ready kami ngayon. So happy, nakaka-proud na hanggang sa last set, pinakita ng girls ‘yung gusto namin mangyari na tumibay tsaka tumapang. So very proud na maka-perform, si Mika grabe ‘yung nilaro kanina. Si Sav, the usual. Pero ‘yung kapit ‘yung kinaka-proud ko sa kanila,” Ricafort, who became the first coach to win PVL titles with two different teams, added.
After numerous heartbreaks and near misses in past conferences, the High Speed Hitters now finish the story with a dominant run, ending with a coveted PVL championship in their hands.
Still, PLDT’s golden run was far from a cakewalk, and could have easily turned into another conference of what-ifs. Following their undefeated run in the preliminaries, the High Speed Hitters’ journey almost ended at the hands of the Creamline Cool Smashers in the conference semifinals.
Come the finals, what was shaping up to be a straight-set win against Chery Tiggo ended up being a massive collapse for the High Speed Hitters. But this time around, fate would finally smile on the High Speed Hitters’ side.
Against the Cool Smashers, they showed immense poise to recover two sets down under the leadership of Davison, with Dy, Baron, Reyes, and Jovie Prado providing much-needed firepower to overcome the 10-time PVL champs.
Then, in their title fight against Chery Tiggo, PLDT recovered just in time in the fifth set, closing out the Crossovers behind the defensive brilliance of the Baron-Reyes frontline to rule the inaugural PVL preseason tilt.
“Happy na nakuha namin ‘yung championship, pero mas masaya ‘yung na-overcome namin ‘yung matagal na gusto namin ipa-overcome sa players. ‘Yung mga ganitong tight games na kami ‘yung makakakuha sa dulo, ‘yun ‘yung pinakamasarap doon,” Ricafort said.
“Kasi day in day out, ‘yun nga, sa mga na-experience namin before, ‘yung hirap tsaka mga heartbreaks, hindi sila tumigil eh. Yung trabaho namin simula nung last year, imbes na maka-down samin, mas nakita ko sa kanila ‘yung pag-push tsaka maturity.”
From having to live with the near misses, PLDT now joins an exclusive club of PVL champions that include the Creamline Cool Smashers, Kurashiki Ablaze, Cignal HD Spikers, and finally the Chery Tiggo Crossovers in the league’s professional era.
It may have been a long time coming for them, but as Ricafort said, perhaps they had to go through repeated heartbreaks first in order to be prepared for this very moment. That they had to build that character of grit and determination first through those times that they wound up in either fourth or fifth place.
And now, that perseverance has finally rewarded the High Speed Hitters, as they conclude a perfect PVL on Tour run with the championship firmly in their grasp.
Images courtesy of the Premier Volleyball League.