Adjustments help PLDT shut down Rondina, Choco
PLDT had a plan to stop Sisi Rondina in its pivotal game against Choco Mucho on Saturday in the 2026 PVL All-Filipino Conference at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
“With Sisi, you just have to give everything, even trying to reach the balls that seem impossible and dealing with the really powerful hits,” said PLDT coach Rald Ricafort in Filipino. “It’s really about patience when it comes to blocking her. That’s what we tried to do, just take what we could and make sure we didn’t lose the system we prepared against her.”
PLDT wasn’t as successful in stopping the Choco Mucho headliner, but the High Speed Hitters did get the crucial victory, 23-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-19.
Rondina, who came off a gold medal run in the Southeast Asian Games beach volleyball, was nearly unstoppable in their first set as she scored a bulk of her 23 points there to help the Flying Titans jump out of the gates.
“That’s really how it is when she’s playing for Choco. You anticipate it and try to work around it. But still, she finished with 23 points,” Ricafort added.
It took PLDT’s championship experience, built in the past seasons, to stave off Choco Mucho and Rondina in the next three sets as the High Speed Hitters relied on their vaunted defense at the net to storm ahead for good.
Kianna Dy led PLDT’s blocking with five kill blocks and had 12 spikes to finish with 17 points and backstop Savi Davison’s 19.
“In the first set, I really couldn’t get a read on Sisi. Her hits were very high and powerful, so we really had to adjust. If we didn’t adjust, the result might have been different,” Dy said.
Dy knew that it was going to be a dog fight against the Flying Titans, who were battling with urgency to bolster their slim top-four chances.
“The coaches already told us that it wouldn’t be an easy match. It was really going to be point-for-point and that’s exactly what happened. In the end, it came down to who wanted it more and who could adjust better. We focused on how to stop their attackers,” said Dy.
“We all know that Choco is a very offensive team and you could see at the start that we struggled to contain their wingers. The coaches told us the adjustments we needed to make in our blocking and eventually we found our rhythm. But it wasn’t easy, so credit also goes to Choco for their attacks,” she added.
The former La Salle star continued to be PLDT’s second-best scorer after Davison, embracing whatever role was given to her and showing her eagerness to help the team.
PLDT could seal the top place against Nxled next week and set a qualifying round game against the No.4 seed.
“It’s very important for us to gain momentum heading into the next round, so we’ll keep working on what we still need to improve as a team. We’ll focus on those things in training,” said Dy.
