Armed with new coach, Choco Mucho makes winning debut–while still feeling its way through new system

Dante Alinsunurin finds himself in the spotlight as the new coach of a hugely popular squad.

“People give me energy to know that Choco Mucho has a lot of fans,” Alinsunurin said on Saturday after the Flying Titans’ impressive debut in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference. “I can see my password [new] The team received a great boost from our supporters.

Choco Mucho defeated Akari, 25-15, 25-20, 25-20, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, although the team is still in the process of sponging the system.

“I think [the team has absorbed] 60 to 70 percent [of the system] but of course, we still have to polish what we want to do on the field,” said Alinsunurin after the game.

Fortunately for the decorated men’s coach, his new squad is open to learning.

“Well, everyone has an open mind about learning the new system because we all know it’s for our own good,” said Maddie Madayag, who had 11 points for the win. “We’re happy that we learned a lot of things that we can apply to the game.”

Like Madayag, Bea De Leon and Kat Tolentino also had 11 points for Choco Mucho as the trio of former Ateneo stars spoiled Dindin Santiago-Manabat’s debut as Akari Charger.

ACL injury

Madayag, who suffered a left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury last August 2021 during the PVL Open Conference Bacarra bubble, shined in his first start, scoring nine of 12 spike attempts on top of one block and an ace in front of 9,819 fans. .

“I’m very happy that coach Dante gave me a chance to redeem myself. Because it took some time to recover after this painful fall,” said the star center blocker, who played little in the Reinforced Conference last year.

“I’m very happy to be back on my feet [from my injury] in this game. But we will not stop from this game, we will continue to work,” he added.

When Akari took a 14-13 lead in the third set, Madayag reeled off four straight points to put Choco Mucho on top, 17-15, before going to the end line. He drilled a service ace to give his team a 20-15 lead.

Jhoana Maraguinot stopped the bleeding for the Chargers with back-to-back strikes. But De Leon restored order for the Flying Titans with two consecutive runs for a 22-17 advantage.

It was enough to set Alinsunurin up for a milestone victory.

First PVL won

“I thank the players and the coaching staff because we really helped each other to win. This victory gave me goosebumps because it was my first time as a coach in the PVL,” said Alinsunurin, whose team committed only 11 mistakes in the match.

Deanna Wong was also instrumental with an impressive 21 sets and scored three points off two blocks. Isa Molde chipped in 10 points, while Des Cheng added seven points and had 14 excellent receptions and nine digs to help out libero Denden Lazaro-Revilla.

Manabat carried the cudgels from Akari with 17 points, while Janine Marciano had 12 points. However, the Chargers committed 23 errors and did not tally a single kill block in the game.

Madayag and Flying Titans will now prepare for a tough match against Petro Gazz next week. The Angels are currently coached by former Choco Mucho strategist Oliver Almadro.

“We are good with coach O,” Madayag said, referring to the former Ateneo coach. “We’re excited to see how he coaches and what kind of system he’s going to play [with Petro Gazz].”

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