Light at end of tunnel as Nxled sees lesson, not loss
Aby Maraño is not your ordinary superstar.
Her talent is matched only by her mental brilliance and as a veteran who has played on several powerhouse squads featuring talent-rich rosters, she certainly knows the things teams need to go through to get to where they want to go.
“This is a wake-up call for the team and we’re taking this [loss] as a lesson for everyone,” she told reporters on late Thursday evening at the Filoil EcoOil Centre after her Nxled Chameleons dropped their first game in the PVL All-Filipino Conference—against a surprising Galeries Tower.
“I think it’s good that this happened early on in this part of the conference. So we’ll know what area we need to improve in the team,” she added.
Rising Nxled standout Lyann de Guzman understood the message.
“We’ll stay positive,” she said. “We’ll see what we need to improve with the team and individually, then we’ll start there. That’s what we’ll work on in training.”
The Highrisers struck first in their 25-19, 17-25, 25-20, 25-21, then held off the Chameleons in a spirited fourth set to forge the upset and halt Nxled’s three-game winning start to the conference.
Maraño’s wisdom
For Maraño, the defeat could end up playing an important role for the Chameleons, who had been languishing at the bottom of the tournament until a sudden talent-signing spree aided by the disbandment of two teams—including champion squad Petro Gazz—turned it into an instant favorite.
Maraño was signed from Chery Tiggo, while the top aces of the Angels—three-time MVP Brooke Van Sickle and Finals MVP winners MJ Phillips and Myla Pablo—also joined the Chameleons.
But champion teams aren’t built overnight and a bumper crop of talent needs some adversity to toughen it up.
And how Nxled will respond to adversity could define its identity.
Maraño offered the team some wisdom.
“What’s important is how we get back from the loss,” the 33-year-old middle blocker said. “It can’t be in the next game. It has to be right in the next day, in training. Be intentional, [show] quality all the time, give extra effort to improve.”
De Guzman, the young hitter who was with Nxled during those loss-heavy stretches in the past, also saw a lesson instead of a loss.
“I feel like we didn’t get to show some of our skills in the game,” the ex-Ateneo star said. “Today wasn’t our day, but it happens. It’s sad because we know we could have fought [for a win]. But this is an opportunity to improve.”
