Archangels
Ynares Center, Antipolo City
July 14, 2019
“War in heaven, angels fell
Lash out against the dragon’s spell
Rise above the abyss…”
If you’re reading this and you’re a Premier Volleyball League or just a simple volleyball fan, I have some questions for you.
But before I pop the questions, promise me you’ll be truthful. If not, let’s not kid each other and get you’re sorry behind out of here or I’ll gladly do it for you.
Game? Game.
Who here thought the Creamline Cool Smashers will win the PVL Season Three Reinforced Conference championship even before the tournament started?
Raise your hand fool, yes you, and admit you did. You probably all did. Count yours truly as one who thought so. And yes, you can call me a fool too. I deserve it. But why not? Creamline has got to be the most talented, strongest team ever assembled. For one, they have Alyssa Valdez. If you’re hiding in a cave somewhere in Timbuktu, she’s the undisputed Face of Philippine volleyball. Three-time PVL MVP. Three-time MVP in the Shakey’s V-League, the PVL’s predecessor. More in the UAAP. First Filipina to play as an import abroad. Former Southeast Asian Games flag-bearer. Hammer of the gods. They have Tai Bundit as coach, the driving force of why Philippine volleyball is what it is now. Ask La Salle coach Ramil de Jesus himself and he’ll tell you Bundit inspired him to level up. They also have Jia Morado, one of the best, if not the best, setters in the country today. Their imports—Kuttika Kaewpin and Aleoscar Blanco—are not that bad. They have the deepest team ever assembled, so deep you could compare them with the Avengers. Perhaps even deeper than the Marianas Trench.
So how can we all not say Creamline will win it all?
Another one. Who here thought the PetroGazz Angels will win it? Probably none. I’ll bet my house that even some people from PetroGazz themselves have doubts they would make it this far much more win everything. But if you honestly believe they would, you did well and I congratulate you for keeping the faith. Because the truth is, the Angels are like the Toronto Raptors of the NBA. They won when nobody else think they could.
So yes, the Angels are the new queens of the PVL after living up to their monicker and swooping down on the unsuspecting Cool Smashers and their legions of fans including Rocky Canlas and yours truly, Sportsmaryosep.
Sportsmoryosep’s prognosis: You’re still probably wondering right now what went wrong with Creamline? But the correct question should be what went right with PetroGazz? It’s simple. PetroGazz management was just very hardworking and fastidious enough to find imports who would dominate the opposition and mesh well with their teammates. They set an example to other teams, especially Creamline, to not take for granted the work done in finding the best the world can offer and not to be contented with the words good enough.
And oh, the PetroGazz reinforcements I was referring to were super imports Wilma Salas and Janisa Johnson.
Or you can just call them Archangels.
P.S.
I’m admonishing you right now if you’re thinking Salas and Johnson are the only two reasons PetroGazz won. That’s a misconception. Because honestly, they have hardworking people running the team, a cerebral coach in Arnold Laniog and a set of young players and tested vets who can get the job done. They did. Volleyball is a team game anyway. You can’t win a team game without its other parts. Ask LeBron James.
Follow me on Twitter: @JoeySVillar
(Photos courtesy of Sports Vision, PetroGazz and Tiebreaker boss Matthew Li)
sportsmaryosep 