With PVL stint over, Mylene Paat shifts focus on national team

MANILA, Philippines—After Chery Tiggo failed to reach the semifinals of the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference, Mylene Paat shifted her focus on the Philippine women’s volleyball team.

Although the Philippine National Volleyball Federation has yet to announce the line-up for the 32nd Southeast Asian Games, the PVL Reinforced Conference MVP expressed her commitment to representing the country in Cambodia in May.

“For now, I will prioritize the national team. Whatever it takes, I will play for the national team,” said Paat after Chery Tiggo’s All-Filipino campaign ended with a 21-25, 26-28, 21-25 loss to Petro Gazz on Tuesday in Iloilo.

If Paat makes it to the final roster, she will play her third straight SEA Games, following back-to-back fourth-place finishes last year in Vietnam and in the 2019 Manila Games.

The Philippine women’s volleyball team, under Brazilian coach Jorge Souza de Brito, is raring to make its first podium finish since the 2005 biennial meet, when the squad copped bronze.

Chery Tiggo once again lost steam in the latter part of the tournament just like in the Reinforced, where it reached the semifinals but lost all of its games.

The Crossovers started the All-Filipino strong, winning their first three assignments but they dropped four of their last five games to bow out of contention.

Paat, who topped the scoring in the elimination round with a total of 148 points, is putting a premium on her team’s mental toughness.

“I think each one of us has to strengthen our mental toughness. We have to treat every game as a championship game. That’s the right mentality,” she said in Filipino. “The skills are already there. We can polish our movement as a team but mental toughness is a long process.”

Despite missing the semis for the second straight All-Filipino Conference, Paat remained proud of her team.

“We really wanted to win and it hurts because we didn’t even if we gave our all. But I’m still proud of them,” Paat said.

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