ILOCOS NORTE --A learning experience.
That's how Alyssa Valdez saw her team Creamline's 18-25, 23-25, 25-23, 20-25 defeat to Chery Tiggo in a Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Open Conference elimination round game Friday at the PCV Socio-Civic & Cultural Center here in Bacarra.
It was the Cool Smashers' first loss after starting the conference with five straight wins. It also ended their 25-game winning streak dating back from their 20-game title sweep of the 2019 Open Conference.
"We all know Chery Tiggo is a very tough team to play against and pinakita naman talaga nung game. We're blessed kahit papano nabigyan namin sila ng magandang game at walang injuries," said Valdez.
"Hopefully, we'll learn a lot of lessons from this game, we recover and practice and hopefully mas maganda upcoming games pa namin," she added.
Valdez also praised Chery Tiggo star Jaja Santiago, her former teammate in the national team and PLDT, for the marked improvement she showed the past years both as an athlete and as a person.
"We're always teammates in the national team. The growth of Jaja is not only on her skills, napakalaki," said Valdez. "Gusto ko growth nya as an athlete and as an individual also.
"Napaka-graceful niya na maging isang woman na ngayon and a leader," she added.
Valdez is also optimistic Santiago will achieve more internationally.
"I'm just really looking forward na mas malayo pa mararating ni Jaja not only in the Philippines but also around the world," said Valdez. (VJ)