Savi Davison has spent plenty of time in the PVL press room, picking up one Player of the Game award after another in past conferences. She often joked about being called in yet again. After the PLDT High Speed Hitters’ win over the Capital1 Solar Spikers on Saturday, though, she walked in with a big smile.
“You know what? I missed this,” said Davison.
PLDT had been one of the favorites entering the 2026–27 PVL All-Filipino Conference Siklab Series. The High Speed Hitters had won two titles and two bronze medals over their last five tournaments. Instead, they opened with straight-set losses to the Nxled Chameleons and Akari Chargers, and Davison struggled in both. She scored 10 points against Nxled, then just 5 against Akari, the lowest total of her PVL career.
“I gotta show up,” said the 27-year-old outside hitter when asked about her mindset after those two games.
The Fil-Canadian former league MVP said she reminded herself that one bad game doesn’t erase the work she has put in.
“I think it’s just going back to the basics and realizing how hard I’ve worked to get here, and everything that I’ve learned to this day doesn’t just disappear. It’s everything I’ve trained for. We train every day, and just because I had a bad day on a game day, you know, it doesn’t define me,” she said.
“It was humbling, but I feel like we all go through those experiences where we don’t show up the best that we can, and it’s just kind of how we respond to them. So I like to identify it, recognize it, and kind of move on because, you know, we need each other, right? So the best thing I can do is respond the best I can.”
Savi Davison Unleashed
Her answer came against Capital1. Davison scored 28 points on 23 attacks, 4 blocks, and 1 ace, and added 18 excellent receptions and 10 excellent digs. PLDT won 21-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-21 at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan for its first win of the conference.
The University of Oklahoma product admitted that carrying PLDT’s offense comes with pressure. Team captain Kath Arado anchors the defense, while Davison carries the offense.
“I honestly… It’s hard. I’m not gonna lie, but I feel like Kath also recognizes the position that I’m in. Like, we… She’s a really big part of our defense, and I feel like I carry the offensive side. But we do have a lot of pressure on us, internally and externally,” she said.
“And we like to say that pressure is a privilege. Pressure is a privilege, and pressure makes diamonds. But at the same time, you just gotta calm yourself down, and everyone has a bad day. But let’s just kind of, you know, mark more good days than bad days, hopefully.”
Davison said the whole team came into the game determined to make up for its poor start and that the hard work in practice that week paid off.
“I feel like we all kinda came into this game knowing that we had something to come back from, and it’s more ourselves than anything. So I’m glad that we pushed each other during practice this week. And going into this game, we had the right mindset. So I’m just glad we came out and played to our best,” she said.
PLDT will next face the ZUS Coffee Thunderbelles on Thursday, October 29, at 3:30 p.m. in Santiago, Isabela.
