Dante Alinsunurin still wary of Choco Mucho’s conditioning even as Deanna Wong returns from injury

Choco Mucho head coach Dante Alinsunurin is tempering his expectations even as setter Deanna Wong made her highly-anticipated return to the Flying Titans, still wary of injuries and sickness across their lineup.

Falling victim to multiple season-ending injuries in the past, the Flying Titans have had more than their fair share of experience with losing their manpower in the middle of the conference.

Even now that Wong is back, Alinsunurin said his team still had to deal with illness in their first game of the year. With still a long way to go in the tournament, the tactician wants his players to err on the side of caution.

[RELATED: Deanna Wong makes winning PVL return in Choco Mucho's reverse sweep of ZUS Coffee]

“Hindi pa rin [kami kampante] eh. Meron umangat, meron naman bumaba kasi bago sa game natin to, may sakit naman samin. May bumalik, may mawawala. Kaya nga sobrang di ko alam kung ano ba nangyayari sa team namin every time na merong babalik, may biglang mawawala,” said Alinsunurin.

But the tactician isn’t one to cry over spilled milk, and rather preached next man up mentality.

Still, with some close calls and spreading his players too far out, Alinsunurin would rather stay on the safe side when it comes to his players’ health. 

“Pero sabi nga, kung sino man yung anjan, alam naman nila yung mga trabaho nila. Kung sino man yung nagiging… desisyon ng coaches, na ipasok sa team, nagde-deliver naman kaya sobrang thankful parin ako dun sa nagkasakit ng bago maglaro na to para napilit parin namin kahit papano. Unti unti. And yun nga, sana, hopefully, di na mangyari ulit,” he said.

“Yung ganung sitwasyon pero sabi ko nga parang nagiging swerte kami kapag may mga ganung mga bagay pero pangit naman para sa isang team na laging meron nagiging problema. Pero, sabi ko nga, hangga’t maari, mag-focus talaga kami sa conditioning namin kasi yun talaga yung susi namin para mas maging maganda yung performance namin every game at saka every training namin,” coach Dante added.

Despite everything that happened, Alinsunurin is keeping his faith in his system and his players — even as they endured an upset scare against the ZUS Coffee Thunderbelles on Saturday.

He preached patience as they hope to ride the momentum of a two-game winning streak in the All-Filipino Conference.

“Di naman [problema yung connection]. Sabi ko nga, hindi naman iba. Yung timing lang sa ginagawa namin. Di talaga lang nagkakatugma yung opensa namin, yung blockings namin, yung depensa namin. Kaya ayun nga yung nagiging problema namin nung first sets eh. Timing lang sa ginagawa namin sa loob ng court,” he said.

When they return to action on Thursday, January 23, Alinsunurin is optimistic they can keep it going.

“Syempre ano rin, [gusto] manalo ulit kasi kailangan namin yun sa mga susunod na mga game pa. Importante lang makapagready ulit kami. And yun, pupunta kami rito na ang mindset namin is kukunin yung game,” he said.