Savi Davison gets her groove back, tows PLDT along with her

ANTIPOLO — Challenged by a more competitive playing field, PLDT’s returning star Savi Davison continued to sizzle with the quickest 28-point outburst yet in the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference.

Davison only needed 95 minutes to pour in 26 kills and two blocks and keep PLDT unbeaten in two games with a 27-25, 25-22, 25-23 win over the gritty Galeries Tower on Tuesday evening at Ynares Center Antipolo.

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“I think in my second game, I was a little bit more comfortable with how I moved around. I felt that I almost regained the trust of my teammates after coming back after missing the last conference,” said Davison, who is returning from a knee injury that sidelined her in the Reinforced Conference. 

READ: PVL: Savi Davison makes immediate impact in return for PLDT

“That felt really good and I just feel better all around. I’m kind of just getting back into the groove of things. I honestly had no idea that I had that many points but I’m just glad how it all transpired.”

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The Filipino-Canadian spiker was eager to lead the way for the High Speed Hitters, knowing that they were facing the tough HighRisers, who have been putting up a gallant stand despite losing all of their games.

“We watched them take Choco Mucho to five and also watch them take Akari to four. We never said that it’s gonna be easy. We just needed to make sure that we’d close out and came up with what we needed to, the adjustments in how we played and all that stuff,” said Davison. “I’m glad that we stuck with our game plan. Obviously, we fell back a little bit in the third set but I thought that we fought and that’s a sign of growth.”

READ: PVL: PLDT scores second win with tough sweep of Galeries

Davison and the High Speed Hitters needed to erase a 15-21 deficit in the third set to complete their second win and join the idle Akari Chargers for the share of the league lead.

PLDT coach Rald Ricafort lauded the vast improvement of expansion teams like Galeries, Nxled, their next game Capital 1, and even ZUS Coffee, which ended a 20-game losing streak with its first franchise win.

“Like what the Nxled coach mentioned last time, there are no more sure-win teams now. For example, ZUS won earlier, so everyone’s level has really gone up after the Reinforced Conference,” said coach Rald Ricafort. “You can’t call any match an easy win anymore. With how competitive it’s gotten, if you allow runs like we did earlier, teams will capitalize and pull away. Everyone’s a tough opponent now.”

“Each game, it feels like our opponents are getting stronger. Even without Marina Tushova, Capital1 still brought the fight, led by Iris Tolenada. Just like their game against Chery Tiggo, they really battle it out. We can’t afford to lower our level. Every game, we need to learn and keep improving,” he added.

Like her coach, Davison is thrilled to see the league reaching another level after missing the previous tournament.

She’s eager to keep on competing at a high level now that she’s fit again for PLDT.

“Coming back from an injury, I can’t really pretend like it didn’t happen. You got to almost apply the things that you learned while sitting out to coming in back,” said Davison. “I think overall, just my mentality of things is at a good 80 percent. I’m just glad that it’s not up and down and all around and I’m freaking out and all at that stuff, especially with the crowd here in the PVL. I’m just glad that everything’s going the way that I’d like to.”