MANILA, Philippines – It started out with a funny moniker.
Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons, collectively known in beach volleyball circles with the “SiPons” team name intentionally sounding like “snot” in Filipino, were once the Philippines’ top representatives on the sands in the international scene, and thus, were away from the glitz and glamor of the indoor game.
Years after putting in the work – sunburns, dehydration, exhaustion — volleyball fans at large are finally seeing the pair’s efforts pay off as Pons exploded onto the scene with her first career PVL MVP award in the 2024 Reinforced Conference, less than one year after Rondina got her own.
The former FEU standout, now also a Finals MVP and two-time PVL champion, was never one to downplay what her beach volleyball days meant to her career, and she echoed the same sentiments after her Creamline Cool Smashers blew out the once-undefeated Akari Chargers in the Reinforced knockout final.
“I’m really so proud because the international experience is a huge thing. Even though it’s beach volleyball, our foes were no slouches. Some were Olympians, really high-caliber players, so every game, we were learning a lot,” Pons said in Filipino after the championship win.
“Although we weren’t able to win them all, we were able to bring to the indoor game all our lessons and experience.”
Sure enough, the experience really showed for the feisty Pons as the keys to Creamline were handed to her following the simultaneous, conference-long absences of Alyssa Valdez, Tots Carlos, and Jema Galanza — three superstar spikers with a combined seven MVP awards among them.
Although her scoring numbers were not as explosive as Rondina or other high-scoring wingers in the PVL, Pons more than made up for it with consistently high output in the defensive category, with her dig and reception numbers almost always in double-digits per game.
Now at the top of the league, Pons is no longer just a fill-in starter, but the sure manifestation of another, more serious moniker, given to her years before she even won it all: “MVPons.”
“Coach [Sherwin Meneses] readied us mentally, telling us to stay ready because we are the only ones left, and we shouldn’t look for who’s not there,” Pons continued.
“There was a time where our training was bad and coach said, ‘Who are you still waiting for?’ So that’s kind of a wake-up call for us that yeah, we’re really the only ones left, so we have to do the extra work and work for everyone else who couldn’t be here.”
Pons took her shot when the opportunity was there, soared high, and stuck the landing to now bathe in gold.
From SiPons to MVPons. In a tale as old as time, the Creamline Cool Smashers have once again found another star to call their own. – Rappler.com