Guidetti finally savors taste of victory as Chameleons end slump
A lot of time has passed since Nxled last landed on the win column and when the Chameleons finally changed their fortunes in the PVL All-Filipino Conference on Sunday, it left a sense of longing in their coach.
“It feels good [to win]. It makes me wonder [how it feels] to have more,” coach Ettore Guidetti said after Nxled’s 25-20, 19-25, 25-14, 25-23 breakthrough victory against Galeries Tower at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City that snapped an eight-game slide in this conference alone.
“I waited I think four or five months to get our first victory and honestly, it’s got a very good and sweet taste,” the Italian mentor added after getting his first win since being named Nxled coach
The Chameleons, though, have waited a lot longer than their coach to break the dry spell.
Before this win, Nxled was on a 15-game slump dating back to the last Reinforced Conference where it only won its opening game, under former Chinese coach Chen Gang, also against the Highrisers.
But none of that string of poor results has dampened the spirit of Guidetti.
Four matches ago
“The fact that I am still here after a bunch of losses says that I am feeling very good with my team,” Guidetti said. “They are really, really, really nice to coach. This is a very coachable team so I am having a very nice day [every day] staying with them and this encourages me to try to help them in any creative way I can.”
“It’s kind of four matches ago that I started to see a really very good improvement about the numbers … because there is honestly a big gap between us and some opponent teams. And I was really, really waiting the day that finally we can click and win,” he added. “[S]o we are looking forward for the next game to show everyone that this is nothing but the beginning.”
EJ Laure, the former Chery Tiggo hitter and the most recent addition to the Chameleons, was among the cogs who clicked by pouring in 19 points from 14 attacks and five blocks. Chiara Permentilla was also in the mix with 14 points, all but one off kills.
“I am starting to [have] a little bit [of] white [hair],” Guidetti joked. “I can tell you that this is not exactly my first conference and it’s not even one of my most difficult ones because I have very hard times, maybe in Poland or other countries.”
“But the truth is that when you step [out of the court] after a match, maybe a loss, you go to practice and you finish the practice full of energy because your team is mirroring the will to be better. This is an incredible help for me as a professional and it tells me not only to keep going but to forget immediately about the frustration,” he said.
May Luna-Lumahan also pitched in 12 points in the win that somehow allowed Nxled to see the results of their work and have some optimism despite still being at the bottom of the standings with a 1-8 record, similar with Capital1.
“Coach has been telling us to have grit. He’s not asking us for wins but he is asking for us to move well because the win will follow and it just so happened that everything came together,” Luna said.
