A fully healthy Eya only means trouble for the rest of the PVL.
Notching two wins in five games is not exactly a strong performance for a team that welcomed five UAAP headliners before the start of the PVL Invitational Conference. But finishing in eighth place is no reason for the Chery Tiggo Crossovers to fret either.
There’s a process to winning, especially for young teams. And when you have Eya Laure in a team that already has Mylene Paat, that’s more than enough reason to be optimistic.
Laure, however, knows she needs to be her best self to make this team realize its potential.
“Focus din siyempre sa sarili para sa team. Ayun nga, alam ko naman 'yung mga naging kulang ko,” the former UST Golden Tigress told reporters after their classification match loss to the Choco Mucho Flying Titans on Saturday.
One roadblock to Eya was, apparently, her injury. The Crossover ace revealed she played through an injury “around the ankle” in their last three games in the conference.
“Nagkaroon pa ako ng injury after Akari [Chargers] na hindi ako naka-perform ng Gerflor [Defenders], tapos dire-diretso siya na iniinda ko,” Laure elaborated.
Laure scored 14 points in her PVL debut against the Creamline Cool Smashers, and followed it up with 19 points in her second game against the Chargers. In the three games that followed after she sustained the injury, she posted 3 points, 8 points, and 11 points, respectively.
The Chery Tiggo ace continues to put more focus on conditioning to get better.
“With the help naman ng strength and conditioning coaches namin, naniniwala ako lagi na makakalaro ako. Kung mabibigyan ng opportunity ni Coach Aaron na maipasok, gagawin ko 'yung kaya ko."