By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
She failed to bring Petro Gazz to the Promised Land, but Fil-American Brooke Van Sickle’S maiden stint in the Premier Volleyball League was still a special one after winning the coveted 2024 All-Filipino Conference Most Valuable Player plum.
The Petro Gazz outside spiker lorded it over in the stat sheets by leading the league in total points scored with 293 points on 242 attacks, 29 blocks and 22 aces, thus making her debut worth remembering.
She topped the service department with 0.42 aces per set, finished fourth in attacks (26.39 percent success rate) and fourth in blocking (0.56) average per set.
“I’m just very grateful for my teammates. It’s a six-man sport. I won’t be able to do it without them,” said Van Sickle, who accepted the trophy after the Game 2 finals match between Creamline and Choco Mucho on Sunday night, May 12, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Earlier, Petro Gazz yielded to Chery Tiggo, 16-25, 11-25, 25-13, 25-22, 18-16, to tie their own best-of-three series for the bronze medal, but the Angels eventually sealed the consolation award after posting a superior points ratio after Creamline swept the finals series.
“It’s just icing on top, to be able to do a podium finish, it was good,” the 26-year-old University of Hawaii standout said.
“I thought Chery Tiggo did a fantastic job. We could have potentially played three (games), but things happened and I’m just happy to help my team,” she added.
Also joining her on stage was Creamline’s Jema Galanza, who was awarded the Finals MVP and Best Outside Spiker, along with fellow Cool Smashers Pangs Panaga (Best Middle Blocker) and Kyle Negrito (Best Setter).
Also honored were Choco Mucho’s Sisi Rondina (Best Outside Spiker), Maddie Madayag (Best Middle Blocker) and Thang Ponce (Best Libero), and Van Sickle’s teammate Aiza Pontillas (Best Opposite Spiker).
