MANILA – (UPDATED) The Choco Mucho Flying Titans opened their 2023 PVL Invitational Conference campaign on a strong note as they hammered the Farm Fresh Foxies.

Backed by the return of Sisi Rondina, the Flying Titans dominated the Foxies, 25-14, 25-7, 25-16, at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City on Thursday.

Choco Mucho’s first win gave Farm Fresh its second straight defeat in the tournament.

"Good game for our team kasi nakita namin 'yung naging service-receive namin every set. 'Yun talaga 'yung nag-dictate ng tempo sa amin kaya tuloy-tuloy nakakadepensa kami, nakaka-atake kami. Sana magtuloy-tuloy lang 'yung ginagawa namin," head coach Dante Alinsunurin said.

Rondina, despite playing indoors for the first time in four years, appeared to have picked up where she left off, leading Choco Mucho with 14 points on 13 attacks and a block.

Caitlin Viray also had a solid performance with 13 points, replacing Kat Tolentino, who saw minimal action in their first game.

The Flying Titans had a fiery start as Rondina dropped a barrage of attacks for a 13-6 separation.

Their lead ballooned to nine as Viray went for a backrow hit, 21-12, before Deanna Wong put them at set point off a block point, 24-13.

Choco Mucho was even more unstoppable in the ensuing frame with a commanding 13-0 start, highlighted by three aces of Wong – forcing Farm Fresh to burn all their two timeouts immediately.

The gap went as high as 16 when Wong tallied another block point, 21-5. A back-to-back error from Foxies capped the second set.

Just like in the first two frames, Choco Mucho dropped a 6-0 spurt to start the third before stretching it to 14-5 as Rondina unraveled two down-the-line kills.

Viray’s through-the-block spike gave the Flying Titans a comfortable lead in the third, 22-12, while Rondina fittingly ended her first game in the PVL with the final blow, 25-16.

No one from the Foxies reached double-digits with Tubu leading them with just seven points.