Brooke Van Sickle of Petro Gazz in the PVL All-Filipino Conference against Choco Mucho.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines – Brooke Van Sickle won the Duel of MVPs after edging Petro Gazz past Sisi Rondina and Choco Mucho at the start of the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference on Saturday.
Van Sickle, the reigning All-Filipino MVP, shined with 34 points to spoil Rondina’s return after the Angels’ 25-20, 26-28, 25-21, 25-16 win at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.
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But Van Sickle couldn’t stop marveling at the talent and resilience of her fellow league MVP in the first matchup since the 2024 All-Filipino, with the Choco Mucho and Alas Pilipinas stars missing the entire Reinforced Conference due to the national team period.
READ: PVL: Brooke Van Sickle pushes Petro Gazz past Choco Mucho
“Sisi is just Sisi. I only remember the first time I played against her, and I know other players have said the same, but she’s just phenomenal. She is amazing. It’s just crazy. I remember she was trying to hit a ball and I was sitting there thinking, “How can someone so small jump so high?” It’s just impressive. She’s just a powerhouse. “This girl has courage and determination,” Van Sickle said. “I watched all the games while scouting. Even after watching the last few conferences, she doesn’t give up. Maybe she’s off to a slow start, but she doesn’t care. She’ll just come back. She’s just such a player, hats off to her, I have a lot of respect for her. She’s great.”
The Filipino-American spiker may have defeated Rondina, but she knows the Flying Titans will come back stronger in the longest and biggest PVL tournament.
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“Today is not their day, but they will bounce back, so we will definitely see more of them,” said the Petro Gazz star.
Van Sickle and the Angels missed the title round in the last two conferences as they settled for bronze in the first All-Filipino of the year when Creamline defeated Rondina’s Choco Mucho in the final. They also missed a “three-pointer” in the Reinforced class and settled for sixth place after a quarter-final defeat.
“Nobody wants to lose, but it just happens. We can’t go into the conference expecting to say, ‘Oh yeah, we’re going to be number one without people resisting.’ It is what it is is. The last few conferences, hats off to everyone, even like Creamline they won the Grand Slam, that’s great,” she said. “It’s really good competition and all we have to do is learn from what happened and try to just move on. We can’t just dwell in the past. What we can learn from this is that ultimately we just have to keep going.”
READ: PVL: MJ Phillips and Petro Gazz bank on chemistry in All-Filipino
Van Sickle said the Angels will take it one game at a time in the six-month conference, which includes a qualifying round and a play-in following a single round-robin and then a best-of-three quarterfinals. Semifinals, round-robin and best-of-three championship series.
“I feel like in long conferences you just have to take it game by game. It’s very long and a lot can happen. The league is getting better as the conference progresses, you know there is a lot of movement among the players and everyone is eager to get back to the All-Filipino. “It’s a long season and things happen, but we do our best to cover our bodies, that’s probably the biggest key,” she said.
Van Sickle’s next task will once again be a difficult one as Petro Gazz takes on defending champions Creamline at the Ynares Center Antipolo next week.
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“We cannot give in. With each one, we were able to come out with the same energy and fire for each one. I know we’re playing Creamline next and that’s going to be very, very difficult. We just have to be fired up and see what kind of magic we can make,” she said.