De La Salle standouts Thea Gagate and Julia Coronel continue to shine in their new teams in the PVL, the ZUS Coffee Thunderbelles and the Galeries Tower Highrisers.
From being teammates for the past few years in De La Salle, Thea Gagate and Julia Coronel were on opposite ends of the court this time around.
Gagate faced off against Coronel during ZUS Coffee Thunderbelles' straight-set win over the Galeries Tower Highrisers, 25-22, 25-16, 25-19, on Thursday at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
The 6-foot-2 middle blocker expressed excitement to finally face off against the talented setter, who has shown vast improvements despite the Highrisers' 0-4 start to the conference.
“Exciting lang din kasi pinag-usapan namin ito before. Happy lang din ako sa na-improve ni Julia so far and excited lang din ako sa upcoming transition namin sa pro league,” Gagate said during the post-game press conference.
Gagate and Coronel had been together since UAAP Season 82 and later helped the Lady Spikers reclaim the title in Season 85.
The La Salle duo went on to apply for the inaugural PVL Draft, where Gagate was selected first overall by ZUS Coffee, while Coronel was chosen third by Galeries Tower.
The two also played for Alas Pilipinas before their PVL debuts, garnering important international experience.
Now with the Thunderbelles, Gagate hopes that the team’s winning run can continue in the new season.
“‘Yun ‘yung personally ‘yung goal ko din is makatulong talaga para makakuha ng panalo sa team namin. And although we’re a new team, parang halos lahat kami puro bata, we just wanted to give a new energy for this conference,” said Gagate.
Gagate and Coronel will meet once more in the second round of the All-Filipino Conference next year.
(With reports from Jamie Velasco, One Sports Digital)