PUSHED AND TESTED
Brooke Van Sickle knows the road to a deep playoff run in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Women’s Champions League won’t be smooth for the Petro Gazz Angels.
“We expect to get pushed. These are all championship teams,” said Van Sickle after the Angels fell to Taiwan’s Taipower, 25-15, 25-16, 19-25, 25-20, on Monday—a loss that puts their quarterfinal hopes in jeopardy.
But all is not lost for the reigning PVL All-Filipino champions.
A win against Hong Kong’s Hip Hing Women’s Volleyball Team in their final elimination game on Tuesday will send them through to the next round of the 12-team continental tournament.
“We have to switch our mentality and go after it in the next game. We have to stick together as a team as much as possible,” added Van Sickle, who finished with 13 points, including 11 attacks and two aces.
Petro Gazz import Gia Day led the charge with 16 kills for a total of 18 points. But the Angels looked a far cry from the squad that stunned 10-time champion Creamline for the All-Filipino title just over a week ago.
Their 28 unforced errors helped ease the path for Taipower, who capitalized on the host team’s miscues with clinical efficiency.
Hsu Wan-Yun and Peng Yu-Rou led the Taiwanese charge, following up their sweep of Hip Hing with another commanding win to book a crossover quarterfinal spot.
Facing a potential sweep, the Angels fought back in the third set, seizing momentum as Taipower faltered. Errors by Lin Cai-Zhen and Hsu allowed Van Sickle to strike with a powerful cross to put Petro Gazz up 21-17.
Van Sickle, Aiza Maizo-Pontillas and Joy Dacoron then combined to finish the set, with Van Sickle sealing it with an ace.
Limited practice time
“I won’t say it’s pressure [from the championship]. It’s a different tournament. Yeah, we won the championship, but we’ve moved on,” Van Sickle said. “Tonight, we’ll watch film and shake it off. The first game is over—learn from it and move on.”
Taipower regrouped in the fourth set and took control behind Huang Ching-Hsuan and Hsu. A blistering crosscourt shot by Peng and a running attack from Huang opened an eight-point lead, further widened by Day’s back-to-back errors.
MJ Phillips briefly gave the Angels hope with a quick spike and a block to close the gap to 22-18, but Remy Palma’s service error at match point sealed the loss.
Day, who has had limited practice time with the Angels, isn’t getting too down about the defeat.
“I think this is also my first international tournament so I’m really excited to play with a different style and also see so many different styles in volleyball, I think it’s a beautiful thing,” she said. “Like Brooke (Van Sickle) said, the teams in this tournament are really good at playing together and finding their rhythm as a team so I think that’s something we can learn from and really be excited about.”
“I kind of accepted the challenge, so I’m excited for what the future holds and I’m really thankful that they invited me to come here.”
