PVL: Myla Pablo, Nxled vow to make most of chance to win title

Nxled’s Myla Pablo during a game against Farm Fresh in the PVL Invitational Conference.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — PLDT answered Nxled’s prayers to earn a breakthrough appearance in the PVL Invitational Final.

Myla Pablo and the first-time finalists Chameleons won’t waste this chance as they try to win it all against EST Cola of Thailand on Tuesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

With the Chameleons watching the final game between Creamline and PLDT to determine whether they will play for gold or bronze, Pablo stayed at the Big Dome and witnessed an intense duel.

READ: PVL: PLDT denies Creamline, sends Nxled to first-ever finals

Already relegated to the battle for third, Savi Davison still played her heart out and set a new career-high of 37 points, as PLDT derailed Creamline’s planned flight to the finals despite Jaja Santiago-Minowa’s big game with a  25-17, 23-25, 21-25, 25-23, 15-12 win on Sunday night.

All three teams finished at 3-2, but Nxled advanced through the FIVB point-system tiebreak with 10 points, ahead of Creamline’s nine and PLDT’s eight.

“I’m super happy. It’s our first time reaching the finals with Nxled. You can see that all the teams are really tired because we’ve been playing every day,” Pablo told reporters in Filipino.

“Physically, we’re definitely feeling the fatigue, but whatever the result of the Creamline and PLDT game was, we knew we still had to prepare for Tuesday.”

“Now that we’re in the finals, I think the most important thing for us is to give our best. We need to communicate with each other and apply everything we’ve worked on inside the court,” she added.

Pablo was also proud of her boyfriend and PLDT coach Rald Ricafort, whose team remained eager to win despite already being dethroned even before their clash with Creamline.

“I was actually nervous because Rald is the head coach, so I told myself that whatever the result, I would still be very proud of him even if they lost,” she said. “But they won against Creamline, so I’m super happy. Hopefully, they can also get the bronze on Tuesday.”

Pablo, one of the champion core players of Petro Gazz who signed with Nxled, was fulfilled to reach the PVL Finals without their injured three-time MVP Brooke Van Sickle and playing their second tournament with new setter Gel Cayuna and Jackie Acuña, who both came from the defunct Cignal.

“It was definitely challenging because we had two new teammates in Gel and Jackie. But as you can see, we didn’t really have a hard time adjusting to them. We were able to build our connection pretty quickly,” Pablo said.

“It also helped that our teammates are veterans, so the adjustment was easier. I’m really happy that we were able to make the finals in the Invitational.”

Nxled suffered a five-set collapse against EST Cola on Thursday. But the former league MVP vows to give their all now that it’s their chance to deliver the franchise’s first-ever PVL crown.

“The Thai players are still young, so they’re really eager to play and they’re not as tired as us yet,” said Pablo. “For us, as a veteran team, we just have to give our best on the court. We’ll just play our game and follow whatever our coaches tell us.”