VOW FULFILLED
As promised, Lindsey Vander Weide sent Petro Gazz back to the PVL Reinforced Conference finals.
Coming back after missing last year’s tournament, where the club was dethroned in the quarterfinals, Vander Weide fulfilled her vow to give the Angels another shot at the title by leading them past the eighth-seeded but hard-fighting Akari Chargers, 25-19, 25-17, 15-25, 22-25, 15-13, on Thursday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
After 12 deadlocks in the fifth set, Vander Weide put the Angels ahead, 13-12, and then watched as Akari committed two costly miscues, allowing Petro Gazz to punch its ticket to a second championship appearance this year after ruling the All-Filipino Conference.
This will also be the Angels’ third Finals appearance in the last four Reinforced tournaments.
“It’s been awesome. I said in the beginning, literally the first day I got here, I looked at Bang (Pineda) and I said, ‘let’s run it back,’” said Vander Weide, who had 16 points to backstop Brooke Van Sickle’s all-around 23-point game on top of 18 excellent receptions and 13 digs.
Three years after her first stint here, the 2022 Best Import and Finals MVP said the tougher competition made the team’s feat even more fulfilling.
“The level of volleyball, I would say, is higher than it was in 2022. Also, there are more teams, so you have to face a lot more teams to get here. I wouldn’t say it was an easy road for us,” she said. “We were in the bottom half after the first part of the season, so that wasn’t a comfortable spot to have to play with top teams going into the playoffs.
“But I think it made us better having to play with top teams going into playoffs, so there it is,” Vander Weide added.
Despite the shaky start in the elimination round, the Angels won their last four games, including a four-set quarterfinal victory that dethroned powerhouse Creamline in their knockout duel, where Vander Weide played through a right ankle sprain.
“I honestly would say I’m a pretty similar player. My mental toughness has been locked in for a while since I’ve been playing pro for how many years. And I’m just glad that I’m able to still play at a high level three years later. And it really helps when you have a really good team super locked in on the same focus. And it feels very similar to how it felt in 2022,” said Vander Weide.
Petro Gazz may have a different set of players and coaches from Vander Weide’s last stint, but having the core members of 2022 and the All-Filipino champion team, led by Van Sickle, makes the Angels a more dangerous squad.
“We have such good depth on our team and at the same time, such good experience. We have such experienced players on the bench. Like Myla coming in and scoring 26 points last game, just shows that we can take anybody off the bench and they can be a game changer,” Vander Weide said. “I think that’s kind of the difference from 2022. We kind of had to rock with who we had then. Now we have so much depth that it just feels even better.”
Petro Gazz will face No. 2 ZUS Coffee in the Final on Sunday. The Thunderbelles swept PLDT, 25-22, 28-26, 25-22, in the second game.
