The Cherry Bomb went off!
Yes, the Creamline Cool Smashers outlasted the Choco Mucho Flying Titans to claim their seventh PVL crown on Saturday at the jampacked Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Yes, it was Tots Carlos who was named Finals MVP after she posted 26 points.
Yes, it was clutch queen Alyssa Valdez who scored the championship point.
And yet, despite all that, the night also belonged to Choco Mucho ace Sisi Rondina.
Before being named MVP of the PVL Second All-Filipino Conference, the 5-foot-6 outside hitter took her signature high-wire act to new heights in Game 2. Scoring 33 points, she broke the finals record set by Dindin Santiago-Manabat in the 2021 PVL Open Conference, when she fired 32 markers to lift the Chery Tiggo Crossovers past, ironically, Creamline.
In the case of Rondina, it wasn’t all about how many points she had, but also the manner in which she converted all those attacks. It really looked like she was flying on the Smart Araneta Coliseum floor. While airborne, she was graceful and ferocious at the same time. Her aerial snapshots belong in a museum.
Countless PVL fans went on social media to give Rondina her flowers.
“Halimaw sa laro ‘to, literal na buhat ang ginawa,” Facebook user Dhadzie Je-ar commented
Others like Ivy D. Ballesteros, likened Sisi to a popular Filipino comic book hero.
“Ang tunay na Darna, congratulations, Sisi,” she posted.
For netizen Daisy Marie Marquez Areola, Rondina is in the same tier as Philippine volleyball’s biggest star.
“Isa kang Legend sa larangan ng volleyball, hindi lang si Alyssa,” she claimed.
PVL fan Cristine Joy Tongol Castillet meanwhile, has a hot take after Rondina’s explosion.
“Kung tutuusin deserve ni Sisi, hindi lang MVP, kundi pati Finals MVP,” she said.
Rondina would’ve made more history had she gotten the nod despite being on the losing team.
With that in mind perhaps, Facebook user Yhtac Nioma felt she had to give Rondina a new title.
“The queen of levitation in the PVL,” she wrote.
Coming off a four-year absence in indoor volleyball, Rondina is already putting up historic numbers and has won major accolades after just two conferences. Choco Mucho fans certainly have a lot to look forward to as the reigning MVP continues to don the purple and white jersey.
(CF)