Jonah Sabete drew praises from Petro Gazz import Lindsey Vander Weide after her all-around performance in the team’s straight sets victory over Choco Mucho in the 2022 Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference, Tuesday night.
Sabete finished with a triple-double of 4 points, 14 excellent digs, and 11 receptions in the Angels’ 27-25, 25-22, 28-26 win over the Flying Titans.
“I love having Jonah as my opposite, honestly. It takes a little pressure off me, if I'm not scoring super well, I know Jonah's gonna be scoring super well,” said the 6-foot-3 Vander Weide, who ended up with 25 points on 20 attacks, three kill blocks, and two aces in her first-ever PVL game.
“She's a super-athletic player that knows how to score, she's swinging at every ball no matter the set, so I feel really confident having her on the court, honestly.”
The 24-year-old American import also said that she liked what she witnessed from the rest of the squad against Choco Mucho.
Djanel Cheng distributed the ball well with 19 excellent sets to go along with two points while Bang Pineda gathered 18 excellent digs and 14 receptions on the defensive end.
Myla Pablo and MJ Phillips also contributed to the win with eight points each.
“It feels great, especially to do it in three [sets]. You never know how your team is gonna play until you play in an actual, real game. And I loved what we did today. That's just the first of the rest of the conference, so I'm really confident in how we played today,” said Vander Weide.
Meanwhile, head coach Rald Ricafort said that the Angels are ‘blessed’ to have Vander Weide as their import as she easily got along with her teammates.
He also said that the outside hitter out of University of Oregon is ‘very coachable.’
“What can I say with Lindsey? Okay siya with the locals kasi attitude-wise, she's okay, personality, okay. She's very coachable. So, instructions-wise, wala, 'pag may sinabi kami, deliver agad. We're very blessed coming from last Reinforced Conference na mabait 'yung imports namin, this time mabait din. 'Yun ang importante,” said Ricafort.
Petro Gazz will face Creamline in a rematch of the 2019 Reinforced Conference finals on Tuesday at 5:30 PM.
