Good as Advertised: Chameleons survive acid test, slip past Foxies

Games tomorrow:

(FilOil EcoOil Centre)

4 p.m. — Choco Mucho vs Cignal

6:30 p.m. — Creamline vs PLDT

Rejigged Nxled went through the wringer before passing the challenge thrown by Farm Fresh, 25-23, 13-25, 21-25, 25-15, 15-12, to start its 2026 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference campaign on a winning note on Tuesday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.

Now clad in light green, the veteran duo of reigning Most Valuable Player Brooke Van Sickle and Myla Pablo took over in the deciding frame for their new team’s great escape after going down 1-2 in the marathon match that took two hours and 20 minutes to settle.

Van Sickle scored 20 points, including 18 kills, while adding 11 excellent receptions in an all-around performance in her debut with her second team in the PVL after defending champion Petro Gazz took a leave of absence.

Pablo hammered all of her 19 points from attacks while fellow former Petro Gazz standout MJ Phillips added 13 markers for Chameleons, who finally notched a win after a dismal winless campaign in the Reinforced Conference.

“Well, if that’s the beginning. I mean, it was a fearsome match,” Nxled head coach Ettore Guidetti said.

“Farm Fresh played, in my opinion, a very good game, considering that it’s the first game for everyone. It was pretty difficult for us to find the correct combinations. But luckily, the fourth and the fifth sets, I have been lucky to find the correct ones for the correct moment. And so, we are happy to say that the first step is the right one.”

Van Sickle shattered a 10-10 deadlock in the fifth set with a crosscourt kill before Pablo scored back-to-back hits. Foxies opposite spiker Trisha Tubu hit the antenna in the next play as Nxled moved at match point, 14-10.

Tubu saved a point before Pablo overcooked her attack. Guidetti called time and effectively iced Farm Fresh setter Louie Romero as she sent her serve long to surrender the match.

The Chameleons failed to sustain the momentum they built in the first set and were routed by the Foxies in the second. Tubu, Ces Molina and new acquisition Royse Tubino took over in the third frame to build a commanding match lead.

But Nxled regrouped in the fourth set, leading 16-8 to take control and eventually force a sudden death.

A tight fifth ensued with the Chameleons taking a 10-9 advantage before Tubu knotted the set for the last time.

Tubu finished with a game-high 28 points with 25 coming from kills.

Molina and Tubino, who joined Farm Fresh last month after her stint with Choco Mucho, added 14 and 13 markers, respectively.