Angels duo a match made in heaven–and Oregon
Sure, Lindsey Vander Weide and Brooke Van Sickle are a match made in heaven for the Petro Gazz Angels. In reality, this was a match made in college.
The Angels continued to rely on their potent 1-2 punch, who were teammates at Oregon in the US NCAA, to fend off winless but gritty Chery Tiggo, 25-15, 20-25, 25-23, 25-21, on Saturday at Capital Arena in Ilagan City, Isabela.
Returning American import Vander Weide flexed her power and reigning season MVP Van Sickle flaunted her all-around game as they finished with 25 points in the victory.
When the Crossovers threatened to force a decider with a 21-19 lead in the fourth set, Vander Weide caught fire, nailing five straight cross-court kills in a 6-0 run to complete the win after two hours and eight minutes and bounce back from a tough four-set loss to Creamline last Tuesday.
Vander Weide, who last played with Van Sickle in 2019, credited her heroics to the floor defense of Van Sickle, as the latter was at the backrow when the 2022 Best Import and Finals MVP took matters into her own hands.
“On the last six points, Brooke was digging every single ball. So when Brooke digs that ball, it fires me up. I have to put that ball away for her,” said Vander Weide.
“If Brooke wasn’t back there, I wouldn’t have even had the opportunity. It just comes from us playing as a team. Someone digging, someone sending me a perfect ball, putting it away.”
Van Sickle drilled 21 kills and also had a tremendous floor defense with 20 digs and 15 excellent receptions to lead the Angels’ rise to a 2-1 record behind Pool B leaders Akari and ZUS Coffee, who are both unbeaten in two games.
The two-time All-Filipino Conference MVP was proud of how the Angels bounced back from their first defeat to Creamline, which they dethroned last May.
“I’m really proud of the team. I thought a lot of people came in, did their job very well. It was up and down a little bit. So we had to deal with that as a team. But I thought we handled the pressure really well. I thought Cherry Tiggo did a fantastic job of just pushing us mentally and physically to our limits,” said Van Sickle.
“Even like just how Lindsey said, like we had to play as a team, continue to push each other and be there for each other. And at that moment when she was in the front row, I knew Lindsey just capitalized because she’s on fire. I gotta just do my job. I’ll dig any ball for her to be sent and finish this game right away. Because once it goes five sets, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” she added.
Vander Weide believes every game counts in this conference, making it important to avoid another defeat.
“I knew we couldn’t take another L on the road. And I think all of us kind of lit that fire underneath us. So, we knew that we were gonna come out and put the pressure on this team,” she said.
