Petro Gazz Angels celebrate after scoring the clincher and winning the PVL All-Filipino Conference championship vs Creamline Cool Smashers. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
There were a lot of things to be considered why there are new queens in the PVL and why, it seems, that the balance of power has been tilted slightly to where it should be: right in the middle.
Petro Gazz sent the All-Filipino empire that was Creamline crumbling on Saturday night with a masterful 25-21, 25-16, 23-25, 25-19 triumph in Game 3 of their All-Filipino Conference title series, and at the tip of the Angels’ sword was Brooke Van Sickle, who couldn’t be more gracious in the face of triumph.
READ: PVL: Brooke Van Sickle wins MVP as Petro Gazz rules All-Filipino
She was just thankful to be with her team, in the country of her mother’s birth and to have the chance to change—just slightly—the professional volleyball landscape.
“I’m not doing anything [special]. It’s my team, they accepted me, they brought me in, they made me feel so welcome and loved,” said Van Sickle after dropping 21 points in the classic match that had more than 10,000 souls on their feet screaming all night at PhilSports Arena.
Van Sickle can keep saying that, but the fact remains that Creamline has been an untouchable all-Filipino force before she became an Angel.
READ: PVL: Petro Gazz Angels take longest route to finally claim 1st all-Filipino title
“I’m not the missing piece. Everybody’s part of the puzzle, everything’s just clicking at the right moment,” she said. “We learned from each other, building those relationships, and it’s just great team chemistry.”
Petro Gazz beat Creamline a total of three times in the tournament as the Angels played with a more well-rounded game, with middle blocker MJ Phillips also stepping up and the brilliance of coach Koji Tsuzurabara in shuffling his charges coming to the fore.
Gone are the days when the Angels relied on just a few. Of course, Van Sickle almost never gets to see rest in games, but Tsuzurabara made sure that the others did, particularly his setters whom he made stand out.
Chie Saet can go into retirement a fulfilled player after the title she confessed she wanted so bad.
“It’s going to be soon, but not very soon,” the 40-year-old grandmother said of retirement in the din of the celebrations after a brilliant conference.
Negative comments
Creamline Cool Smashers celebrate their PVL All-Filipino Conference championship. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
The Angels will have a few days to recharge before the Asian Volleyball Confederation tournament, and after that, more than a month to prepare for the next PVL tournament.
Van Sickle and Phillips had to read some negative comments about their heritage online when the Angels were making a run at the most popular team in the country. They both just shrugged it off.
“I just try to ignore the comments,” said Phillips, who has been playing here since 2017. “Everything is honestly for my mom and my lola who passed away. Every time I look at the flag of the Philippines—it’s for my lola.”
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“I don’t expect people to be open arms with us,” Van Sickle, who came last year and has two PVL MVPs, said. “I understand how they feel. But I’m here, I’m representing the Philippines. I just wanna be able to play volleyball—the sport I love—and continue to immerse myself in this culture, our culture.” INQ
