Van Sickle takes spotlight in PVL opening week
As the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) continues to raise its level of competition, Nxled star Brooke Van Sickle continues to rise with it.
Van Sickle has backed that up with two solid performances in her return from a shoulder injury, helping Nxled take down contenders PLDT and Farm Fresh for a strong 2-0 start to its 2026 PVL All-Filipino Conference Siklab Series campaign.
“I think as PVL continues with its years, I do think that the competition is getting significantly harder. Teams, I mean, now there are only nine. So I think teams are more condensed and they have better players, more talent, especially with the draft coming in,” said Van Sickle.
The Chameleons opened the conference with a stunning 25-16, 25-20, 25-18 sweep of the stacked High Speed Hitters last Tuesday before outlasting the Foxies, 25-19, 25-17, 23-25, 20-25, 15-12, on Saturday.
Sidelined in the PVL On Tour and Invitational Conference, the three-time league Conference MVP showed little rust, finishing with 11 points and eight excellent digs in just two sets against PLDT.
Van Sickle then stepped it up a notch against Farm Fresh, pouring in 20 points on 14 attacks and six kill blocks while adding 16 excellent digs and nine excellent receptions to help the Chameleons fend off the Foxies’ reverse-sweep attempt.
Her impressive showings in both games earned Van Sickle unanimous recognition as the PVL Press Corps Player of the Week for October 10 to 17.
Van Sickle edged teammate Gel Cayuna, Creamline’s Jema Galanza and Jia De Guzman, Choco Mucho’s Eya Laure and Sisi Rondina-Rosales, Farm Fresh’s Mylene Paat-Rezanova, and Capital1’s Bella Belen, who erupted for a career-high 35 points in a five-set win over Akari, for the weekly honor voted on by print and online reporters covering the league.
“Yeah, it's really good to be back. I mean, no athlete likes to be injured, right? So, during the time, I mean, it was really tough at moments, but I had the support of my coaching staff and our teammates, too, and management and ownership,” Van Sickle said.
As the Sports Vision-organized league celebrates its 10th year, the former Season MVP expects the competition to be even tougher as the conference progresses but vowed to keep improving as she looks to help Nxled build on its breakthrough run to the Invitational Conference Finals, which the Chameleons reached without her.
“A lot of teams have their rosters built. So I think it's gonna definitely be very hard and very unpredictable. As we've already seen, there's already been a lot of five-setters. So, as I said, it's gonna be a dogfight for everybody and be very unpredictable, in my opinion,” Van Sickle said.
Van Sickle and the Chameleons will look to extend their unbeaten start to three games when they take on winless Galeries Tower on Thursday, 1 p.m. at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.