ZUS Coffee Thunderbelles in the PVL All-Filipino Conference.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
These are exciting times for ZUS Coffee.
The Thunderbelles waited 20 games and three conferences to finally get their first franchise win.
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They didn’t have to wait as long for win No. 2.
ZUS Coffee’s closing of Galeries Tower as part of Thursday’s All-Filipino Conference (25:22, 25:16, 25:19) actually added something new to the young franchise’s list of milestones.
A first winning streak.
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And it wasn’t hard to figure out what’s making the team laugh this time.
“When you have talent on the team, it makes a big difference,” coach Jerry Yee, who made a surprise appearance in the postgame press conference, said in Filipino. “When you have high-level recruits, it’s a big deal.”
As expected, No. 1 rookie draft pick Thea Gagate has made the biggest difference for the team that has long been at the bottom of the standings.
“Thea will be Thea. Now that she’s here, it’s different: when it comes to blocking and attacking, you already have an advantage. It’s getting easier for the team to switch from offense to defense,” Yee said.
“This time we have that in terms of size and ability. Beauty too,” joked a visibly thrilled Yee. “It’s better to have the materials, because if you don’t have them, how can you work?”
This is the largest roster ZUS Coffee has had. Previously, they had to make do with unheralded free agents and were not even able to immediately acquire Gagate’s services as the La Salle product was loaned to Alas Pilipinas at the start of her rookie year.
Veteran blood
“It lives up to expectations. Of course she is. Actually, having a teammate like that feels good both on and off the field, and somehow you hope that you have a chance to win,” said the mentor in a soft voice. “So you look forward to practicing earlier and performing better than the coaches expect of you because now that we have the materials you can see the direction.”
Former Cignal sluggers Jov Gonzaga and Chai Troncoso added veteran blood to a team built on the young core of NCAA champion St. Benilde.
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“I’m grateful to my teammates because they strive to play for the team,” Gagate said. “It’s not just me that has this goal, it’s really a team effort, so I’m just happy that the coaches, management and players really want to improve too.”