Despite Angels’ relative success, Van Sickle nurses feelings of emptiness
There was a tinge of sadness in Brooke van Sickle’s voice when she talked about how a Petro Gazz squad she is leading has been playing splendidly for more than a year and yet a PVL title has remained elusive to them.
“Right now we’re on a winning streak, but since I have been here, we haven’t won [a championship],” Van Sickle said after punching in 27 points in Petro Gazz’s 25-20, 24-26, 28-26, 25-22 rout of ZUS Coffee late Tuesday night for their sixth straight All-Filipino Cup win at PhilSports Arena.
“So in reality, we’re like the underdogs as he [coach Koji Tsuzurabara] would say.”
That victory lifted the Angels to No. 1 in the standings with a 7-1 record because of the points system, easing out the only team that dealt them a blemish, undefeated Creamline, the defending champion, as the homestretch of the classification round approaches.
It was in this same conference last year that the Filipino-American hitter first joined the two-time champions, and she immediately made her impact by leading Petro Gazz back to a podium finish with a bronze.
Her talent has taken the league by storm and she has, in fact, been in talks with Ricky Palou, the PVL chief and vice president of the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PVNF) to wear the PH colors later this year.
“I’ve been in conversations with the federation and everything. We are working on switching federations, hopefully, fingers crossed,” Van Sickle, who is being considered like MJ Philips and Savi Davison, said. “I think it’s very exciting. If I get the opportunity, I’ll be super grateful and give my one hundred percent.”
Palou said that the PNVF will work on transferring Van Sickle and Philips from the USA volleyball federation to the PNVF, while Davison will have to be moved from the Canada federation.
Committed
Van Sickle has affirmed her commitment to play for Alas Pilipinas, and Palou, who will be working on a transfer window, and the federation are awaiting word from Philips and Davison.
“The other two, we’re just waiting for them,” Palou said of Philips and Davison. “They said they’re interested and we’re talking to them. We want their full commitment.”
Petro Gazz’s relative success in Van Sickle’s first conference didn’t translate as much in the Reinforced Conference with a sixth-place finish. But it doesn’t mean that Van Sickle will be slowing down in trying to lead the Angels to a title.
“We wanna win and it’s gonna be hard and we have to try everything we can,” she said. “I think everyone has that mentality and everyone’s stepping up and doing a fantastic job. We just [have to] stay healthy and confident and just see what we can make and what we can put up there.”
“It’s gonna be hard, but we’ll try our best,” Van Sickle, the league fourth-best scorer, third-best spiker and the top server, added.
Incidentally, that three-set loss to the Cool Smashers lit a fire under Petro Gazz.
“This [streak] started from our loss to Creamline,” Myla Pablo, who is returning to her prime form and together with Van Sickle from Petro Gazz’s 1-2 punch, said in Filipino. “[It was] a motivation, because when you think about surviving through that loss, you can lift yourself up.”
“We got stopped by Creamline, they’re a great team so we have to continue to push ourselves every single day,” Van Sickle said. “It doesn’t matter who’s on the other side, they’re gonna continue to push us, everyone wants to win.”
