MANILA – Creamline Cool Smashers’ skipper Alyssa Valdez tempered concerns over her left knee, as she appeared to be in pain midway through their championship match against the Kurashiki Ablaze on Sunday.

Valdez was sidelined in the crucial fourth and fifth set and was seen limping when she accepted the second Best Outside Spiker trophy after the game.

This raised concerns from her legion of followers, who feared that the Phenom suffered another injury.

During an interview, Valdez explained that it is normal for athletes to feel some pain, especially her who is coming from an injury.

“I think as an athlete normal naman na merong masakit. I just came from an injury also. Medyo nakakalungkot na out of all the days din but no excuses. Japan really did a good job today, everyone in our team played very well,” said Valdez, who scored six points in the game.

Pressed about it, Valdez explained that it is part of the healing journey to have some hiccups in the recovery stage.

“I think it’s part of the journey of being able to play again. After every injury naman merong mga hiccups and mga challenges pa rin so on the brighter side, nakakalakad naman at nakakalaro,” she continued.

She assured that she will try to focus on improving and strengthening her body heading to the next conference.

Valdez added that she is grateful to witness her teammates stepping up whenever needed to contribute inside the court.

• PVL: Tearful Valdez says individual award 'unexpected' after injury

“Mas ano lang, focus on improving pa and magpalakas so yun lang. At the end of the day everyone in our team really did a good job from our bench. Talagang kahit sino kasi andun na yung sistema namin so kahit sinong kuhanin sa team namin talagang magde-deliver,” Valdez said.

But it was a surreal comeback for Valdez, who won an individual award immediately after returning to competitive volleyball.

Valdez, now a seven-time Best Outside Spiker in the league, was the eighth-highest scorer with 57 points and had the second-best success rate in spiking, at 39.23 percent.

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