Ageless Rachel Ann Daquis is defying Father Time.
Once thought to be all but retired in competitive volleyball, the 37-year-old living legend is back in full force in the 2024-2025 PVL All-Filipino Conference as she turned in a vintage 19-point outing in Farm Fresh's thrilling reverse sweep of Capital1 last Tuesday, plus 13 excellent digs for a well-rounded line.
With swinging attacks consistent as the hands of time itself, Daquis stepped up as the much-needed veteran presence in the clutch for a young Farm Fresh squad, and fittingly, hammered the match-winning kill to lift the Foxies to a franchise-best 5-6 record at the end of the preliminary round.
For her throwback exploits, Daquis earned herself a unanimous selection as the PVL Press Corps Player of the Week presented by Pilipinas Live for the period of February 18 to 22.
The former Cignal mainstay, playing in her first tournament since the 2023 Invitational Conference, bested fellow icon Alyssa Valdez of Creamline, Petro Gazz's MJ Phillips, Cignal's Vanie Gandler, Choco Mucho's Isa Molde, and PLDT's possible MVP candidate Savi Davison for the weekly plum decided by reporters covering the competition streamed live and on-demand via the Pilipinas Live app and on www.pvl.ph.
Though already fulfilled in her career and just content with helping out the younger volleyball generations, Daquis remains hungry by example for her teammates as they scale a steep incline towards a breakthrough PVL title in the six-month competition organized by Sports Vision.
"Kulang pa talaga kasi kung okay kami hindi kami aabot ng fifth set eh, so una palang babanat na kami," she said after the win over Capital1. "Ibig sabihin, kulang pa, pero may progress. ‘Yun naman importante eh, ‘yung paangat kami one step at a time."
"Happy kami sa result nito [na] kahit fifth set, pero dito nasubukan ‘yung character eh. Hindi na ‘yung panalo, mas kailangan namin ma-build ‘yung character kasi ang talent na kay Farm Fresh na. Magagaling talaga sila, ang kailangan dito ‘yung lumalaban hanggang dulo, so good win para samin ito na talagang hindi bumitaw lahat."
Sixth-ranked Farm Fresh returns to action on Tuesday, March 4 as it faces No. 7 Akari in the qualifying round for one of six outright quarterfinals spots.
Losers of the qualifiers descend to the play-in tournament, where they have one last chance to earn one of two remaining quarters berths to complete the eight-team cast.
