Despite their 1-5 record, Julia Coronel and Jewel Encarnacion remain hopeful that the Galeries Tower Highrisers can turn things after the Christmas break of the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference.
The Galeries Tower Highrisers came up painfully short once more in the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference.
Coming off their breakthrough win in Cebu, the Highrisers crumbled late in their five-set loss to the Chery Tiggo Crossovers, 28-30, 25-20, 25-19, 16-25, 8-15, at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig on Saturday, December 14.
After the match, prized rookie setter Julia Coronel couldn’t help but lament Galeries Tower’s missed chance to secure back-to-back wins in the conference.
“Nakakapanghinayang kasi panalo na, natalo pa. Parang on my end, feeling ko naging nagkalamangan sa maturity,” Coronel told reporters after the match.
“I would say mas naging mature and mas matibay ‘yung naging character nung Chery Tiggo lalo na nung bandang huli, which is something na dahil nga bago pa lang at bata din pa ‘yung team namin parang ‘yun pa ‘yung wino-work on namin.”
The same sentiment was shared by fellow rookie Jewel Encarnacion, who finished with 16 points and 11 excellent receptions in the tough loss.
“Nakakapanghinayan kasi kita namin kaya naming talunin talaga ‘yung Chery Tiggo. We saw nung third set na kaya naming lamangan ng malaki ‘yung Chery, it’s just that nakapag-adjust sila and nakagawa ng streak sa adjustment na ‘yun,” said Encarnacion.
“Lumabas ‘yung frustrations, errors namin madami nun, so parang kailangan talaga namin pagtuunan pa ng pansin kung paano kami makakabawi in situations like that kasi kaya na namin ipanalo ‘yung fourth set,” she added.
The Highrisers dropped to 11th place with a 1-5 record—majority of which came in close defeats against some of the top teams in the league. It's the second five-set loss for the team this conference, after enduring four in the previous Reinforced Conference.
Nevertheless, Coronel and Encarnacion remain hopeful of the team turning things around come 2025.
“Hopeful naman ako na itong mga pinagdadaanan ng team namin ngayon is maging lesson for us sa mga susunod na games and sana ma-build on din namin ‘yung character and maturity sa loob,” said Coronel.
“Nakakapanghinayang talaga kasi ayun na, andun na, may konting lapses lang na we hope na magawan namin ng paraan for the next games kasi naniniwala ako na kaya naming manalo sa mga teams na nasa taas,” Encarnacion added.
Galeries Tower will continue its preparations during the Christmas break as the Highrisers get ready to face the Cignal HD Spikers on January 18 in the same venue.