Sisi Rondina had nothing but praises for Trisha Tubu and the Farm Fresh Foxies after the young, promising squad put up a valiant stand against the Choco Mucho Flying Titans in the 2024 PVL All-Filipino Conference.
Reeling from a deflating loss to Creamline less than a week ago, Sisi Rondina and the Choco Mucho Flying Titans needed a win to regain momentum and boost morale in their final game of the preliminaries before heading into the 2024 PVL All-Filipino Conference semifinals.
But facing off against an also-ran Farm Fresh Foxies side that was hungry for a triumphant finish to its campaign on Tuesday night, the game did not turn out to be an easy one.
Rondina and the Flying Titans had to overcome the tough challenge of the Trisha Tubu-led Foxies before coming away with a hard-earned 25-15, 24-26, 21-25, 25-21, 15-12 victory.
[RELATED: PVL: Sisi Rondina fires 29 to lift Choco Mucho over upset-conscious Farm Fresh in five sets]
Choco Mucho needed every bit of Rondina’s 29 points and 18 excellent receptions to negate Tubu’s career-high performance of 32 points anchored on 30 attacks and two blocks.
Following such an intense battle, the reigning league MVP praised Tubu’s competitive spirit.
“Paliparan kami ng taas ng talon niya eh, 'di ko nga rin siya mabasa. Pero wala, ano rin 'yung bata eh, competitive and same lang din sa 'kin kung ayaw kong mabugbog 'yung mga kasama ko, ganun din 'yung ano niya, pinapakita,” Rondina shared of Tubu, who is just in her second conference as a pro.
“And 'yun, sana magtuloy-tuloy pa 'yung career niya kasi sobrang promising siya sa posisyon niya.”
However, it wasn't just Tubu who caught Rondina's attention — the entire Farm Fresh team earned her respect.
“Kanina sabi ko nga ambilis ng mga play talaga ng Farm Fresh. Sabi ko na lang sa kanila, pabilisan na 'yung set, pautakan na lang, pagandahan na lang ng basa kasi 'di rin namin sila makuha kahit 'yung timing, ambilis ng set ni [Louie] Romero ta's patalon pa lang kami nakapalo na sila,” the former UST star recalled.
The 5-foot-6 dynamo lauded the improvement of the young and promising Foxies, who has started to bear the fruits of their training under the mentorship of head coach Jerry Yee, team consultant Hideo Suzuki and Shimizu Mikihiro, and assistant coaches Shota Sato and Asaka Tamaru.
[ALSO READ: PVL: Trisha Tubu, Farm Fresh embrace growth through new system amid challenging campaign]
Farm Fresh closed out its campaign with a 3-8 record, showing progress from its 2-9 slate in the 2023 Second All-Filipino Conference.
“Grabe 'yung in-improve ng Farm Fresh ngayon, like alam mo 'yung peak nila, tumapat talaga sa amin. Ayaw din magpatalo. Kanina rin sinikmura din talaga ako burp ako nang burp kaya naghanap ako ng mainit na tubig kasi ubos na rin ako kanina. 'Di ko rin alam, biglaan din. Naitawid naman, trinabaho lang din talaga namin 'yung game na 'yon,” Rondina said.
“And grabe hands down talaga ako sa Japanese program nila like ang ganda ng programa nila.”
With the preliminaries already in the rearview mirror, Rondina and the rest of the Flying Titans now set their sights on the round-robin semifinals, which will go into full swing on April 30, Tuesday.