Games on Tuesday
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
1:30 p.m. – HVF vs Farm Fresh
4 p.m. – Creamline vs PLDT
6:30 p.m. – Nxled vs EST Cola
FOR THE FIRST TIME in franchise history, the Nxled Chameleons will get to play in the finals in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL).
But expect them to not be content with just that as they shoot for a breakthrough championship when they clash with Thailand’s Est Cola in a one-game finale on Tuesday in the PVL Invitational at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Nxled made it through thanks to a four-set win over Farm Fresh on Sunday and an unlikely help from PLDT, which denied Creamline a finals seat following an epic 25-17, 23-25, 21-25, 25-23, 15-12 win the same day.
The Chameleons actually ended up tied with the Cool Smashers and the High Speed Hitters at second spot on 3-2 records but took the last finals ticket after emerging with the highest tiebreak FIVB points of 10 as against the latter two’s nine and eight, respectively.
The Thais took the first seat to the 6:30 p.m. finale with a 4-1 mark.
Nxled, however, will come in as the underdog after succumbing to Est Cola in their one and only duel in the elimination round, 26-24, 21-25, 21-25, 30-28, 15-12, last Sept. 3.
It also won’t help if Brooke Van Sickle, the team’s most lethal weapon, would sit out another match due to shoulder issues.
The Chameleons, though, are hoping and praying Ms. Van Sickle would play in possibly the franchise’s most important match to date.
Ms. Van Sickle, of course, is the heart and soul of the club that had already surpassed its fifth-place finish that it accomplished twice, the last coming in the All-Filipino Conference early this year.
But nothing, of course, beats winning it all.
But somehow, Nxled managed to survive without her, thanks mostly to MJ Phillips, who uncorked 25 points in their last win.
“I couldn’t have done this without my team,” said Ms. Phillips. — Joey Villar