Alyssa Valdez sees 8-month injury rehab pay off, passes F2’s 5-set stamina test

Recovering Creamline star Alyssa Valdez continues to peak at the right moments in the Cool Smashers’ PVL Invitational Conference title defense, staying productive in her first five-set game since her major knee injury

MANILA, Philippines – Slowly but surely, Creamline superstar Alyssa Valdez has seen her performance rise throughout the 2023 PVL Invitational Conference – her first consistent run of action since injuring her right knee in December 2022.

However, in part due to the Cool Smashers’ unrivaled dominance, the three-time league MVP had not been heavily leaned on during the elimination round, as no win went longer than four sets and the likes of Tots Carlos and Jema Galanza consistently bannered the attack line in Valdez’s stead.

F2, staying true to its billing as one of Creamline’s fiercest rivals, changed all that in the first game of the semifinals on Thursday, July 20.

Jumping to a 2-1 set lead, the Cargo Movers threatened the Cool Smashers to a point where they even erased a 10-point Set 4 deficit with a massive 15-4 run.

Thankfully for the defending champions, Valdez was right there in the trenches all throughout the cardiac affair, delivering clutch hits one after the other, and even setting up Galanza’s fifth set-forcing kill in a rare, no-setter rotation by coach Sherwin Meneses.

Stringing games together amid injury rehab is one thing, but staying productive in drawn-out, crucial matches is another aspect altogether, and Valdez is ecstatic that she was able to bring out her best when her team really needed her the most.

“It’s been a while since I played this kind of game also, especially in the semifinals. All the teams really push one another to the limit, so I’m happy that all the hard work for the past eight months has been doing wonders on my game,” she said after Creamline’s eventual win, 12-25, 25-15, 23-25, 30-28, 15-7, sparked by a huge 8-1 start in the fifth.

“I just need to keep on building from that, and I think more than that, it’s the support of my team,” Valdez continued. “They never made me feel [bad]. It’s really the support of the team. I’m inspired to keep on going because of them.”

Meneses, meanwhile, had a simpler explanation why Valdez performed the way she did in the game’s most heart-stopping moments: “Alyssa is Alyssa.”

“We have full trust that she will deliver for us,” he said in Filipino. “She has proven her worth for so many games that we’re not surprised. But of course, it’s still a team effort.”

Aside from Valdez’s conference-high 17-point outing, Creamline found solace in its assembly line of PVL MVPs like Galanza (20 points), Carlos (19 points), Ced Domingo (16 points), and Jia de Guzman (21 excellent sets).

Going deeper into their title defense campaign,…