Petro Gazz has hit its stride at the perfect time, stringing together six consecutive wins in the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference and emerging as a serious contender for the crown.
After a tough loss to Creamline early in the tournament, the Angels have been on a tear, dismantling Farm Fresh, Akari, PLDT, Cignal, Chery Tiggo, and most recently, ZUS Coffee on Tuesday. With a 7-1 record, they now find themselves in prime position for a deep postseason run.
For Petro Gazz’s scoring machine, Brooke Van Sickle, their surge is a result of relentless commitment and heightened intensity in training.
“Everyone’s doing a fantastic job. It doesn’t matter who it is on the team—everyone’s stepping up, everyone’s pushing themselves,” said Van Sickle after their four-set victory against the Thunderbelles.
The Filipino-American outside hitter pointed out how their practices have evolved into all-out battles.
“Even the practice environment now—I always talk about that with MJ Phillips. I was like, ‘Wow, our practices are getting really intense.’ Not that they weren’t before, but now it’s just like a dogfight, basically,” she shared.
With only three more games left in the preliminaries, the Angels have a golden opportunity to extend their winning streak to nine, as they face Capital1, Galeries Tower, and Nxled—three teams currently at the lower end of the standings. But while the schedule looks favorable, Van Sickle insists that they won’t take anything for granted.
“I feel like our coaches are definitely pushing us a lot, and they have high expectations for us. I feel like we’re also holding each other to high standards,” said Van Sickle.
“We wanna win, and it’s gonna be hard. We have to try everything we can. I think everyone has that mentality—everyone’s stepping up, and everyone’s doing a fantastic job.”
With the league adopting the FIVB Classification system, Petro Gazz is on track to secure one of the top spots entering the next phase, where the No. 1 team will face No. 12, No. 2 will meet No. 11, and so forth. A strong finish in the preliminaries will give the Angels a significant advantage in their hunt for a first-ever All-Filipino Conference title, having previously won both of their PVL championships in the Reinforced Conference.
“It’s gonna be hard, but we’ll try our best,” Van Sickle declared.
