Kaboom! Choco Mucho repulses Capital1 in PVL opener

Games on Tuesday:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)

1 p.m. — Farm Fresh

vs Galeries Tower

3:30 p.m. — Criss Cross vs AFP

6 p.m. — Nxled vs PLDT

CEBU CITY — Choco Mucho head coach Dante Alinsunurin was livid after his squad went down by two sets.

Rarely raising his voice, the mentor challenged his wards with a tongue-lashing and got the response he wanted.

The Flying Titans completed a dramatic reverse sweep of a shored-up Capital1, 22-25, 18-25, 25-17, 25-20, 15-8, to open their Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Season 10 All-Filipino Conference Siklab series campaign on Saturday at the SM Seaside Cebu Arena.

Alinsurin gathered his players after yielding the second set and gave them a piece of his mind. The usually soft-spoken mentor turned red with anger.

“I guess they accepted my challenge after the second set. I focused on giving them a tongue-lashing,” he quipped.

“I told them, ‘I don’t need individually good players. I want a team which wants to win.’ I guess that challenged them and I’m just thankful for their response,” Alinsunurin added.

Hometown pride Sisi Rondina-Rosales made her kababayans proud by delivering the goods when it mattered most, as she pounded three straight attacks in Choco Mucho’s decisive 5-0 run after the Solar Spikers closed the gap, 9-7.

“I saw how we all worked together in the third to fifth set. Coach Dante was really mad at us. So, it was really something very alarming for us,” said Rosales, who made a successful comeback to indoor play following her beach volleyball stint with Alas Pilipinas in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games beach volleyball.

“Good thing it woke us up and we fought hard for this win,” added Rosales, who hailed from Compostela.

Eya Laure scored six of her 22 points in the deciding frame to lead Choco Mucho.

Laure, who returned to the team after her Alas stint, got all her production from attacks and added 15 excellent receptions and 11 digs in an all-around performance.

Rosales had 12 points on 10 kills, one ace and one kill block in just three sets of play while Maddie Madayag added 11 points for the Flying Titans, who gave a 12,105-strong crowd a show to remember.

“One of my dreams is to play with this kind of crowd and this is the reason why I was slaying during the game. This is a motivation for me. Many people came to watch us and there were no empty seats; I think there was even standing room. We want to repay the support they’ve given us,” Laure said.

Choco Mucho refused to roll over and die in the third set, coming back from a 4-12 deficit to stay alive.

The Flying Titans controlled the fourth frame to force a decider and opened an 8-3 advantage in the fifth set after a Rosales kill.

Capital1 fought back and trimmed its deficit to two after back-to-back hits by Vanie Gandler before Rosales took over for Choco Mucho’s closing run.

Erika Santos had 22 points on 20 kills and two kill blocks in her first game for the Solar Spikers.

Gandler finished with 15 points and 14 excellent receptions in her first outing with the team since transferring from disbanded Cignal while Bella Belen added 15 points and 10 digs for Capital1.

Setter Julia Coronel dished out 27 excellent sets in her debut after her transfer from Galeries Tower while libero Detdet Pepito, the second overall pick in the last Draft, tallied 24 digs.