It has been a long journey for F2 Logistics on its way to snaring the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino crown late Tuesday at Mall of Asia Arena.

After topping this mid-season conference in 2016, F2 bowed to Petron in 2017 and 2018, prompting the Cargo Movers to plot a surefire way to regain their lost glory in the women’s volleyball tournament.

F2 then netted the biggest fish in the free-agent market: Kalei Mau.

With the prolific Filipino-American spiker on the attack zone, the Cargo Movers raced to an 11-game winning streak before a very familiar foe, the Petron Blaze Spikers, denied them a chance of a sweep.

The sorry setback was followed by another loss to PLDT Home Fibr as it shut down the preliminaries with a 12-2 win-loss card.

But F2 remained defiant. It creamed Sta. Lucia in the quarterfinals before dominating Foton in the semifinals that set the stage for a finals showdown with Cignal.

Cignal shocked Petron in the Final Four.

In Game 1, Cignal played with fire in its eyes, towing the game to a deciding fifth set before F2 eventually prevailed, 25-22, 26-24, 18-25, 17-25, 15-8.

Mau unleashed her fighting form in Game 2 while Aby Maraño, Majoy Baron and Ara Galang were at their best as F2 crushed Cignal, 25-14, 25-16, 25-19, to complete its title-sweep.

F2 coach Ramil de Jesus said it’s a relief to finally unload the monkey off their backs.

“I always tell my players that we’ve always been in the finals, but we fall short,” said De Jesus. “Now, we can call ourselves winners and it feels really good to finally reach our goal.”

De Jesus said Mau, who emerged Most Valuable Player, provided the missing link.

“She was the missing link for us to be able to get back to this situation again,” said de Jesus, who immediately grabbed the hard-hitting former Arizona University spiker shortly after her club disbanded in the off-season.

“I’m thankful that she chose us despite offers from other teams. But don’t get me wrong; even before Kalei’s arrival, F2 Logistics had always been a solid team. We are ready to play anytime and we have been in the finals in the past three years.”

De Jesus then politely excused himself to join the celebration.

He wanted to savor the victory before embarking on a new challenge in the Invitational Conference in October.