Which team will show up at winning time?

Women’s volleyball fans are having a fiesta as the clubs and the schools move into critical phases of their tournaments.

In the UAAP, there have been nail-biters and thrillers as teams battle for position and momentum for the second round.

The Ateneo-University of Santo Tomas five-set cardiac affair saw the Lady Eagles climb out of a two-set hole to soar back and take the next three sets. Future stars of the game, Tigress Sisi Rondina scored 35 points in the effort, while Ateneo’s Maddie Madayag uncorked 11 blocks to break the old league record of nine for a single game.

More of such games can be expected to be as engaging as defending champion De La Salle University gears up to get back at its first round tormentors and battle to get its familiar prime playoff position. Opposing teams will simply have to bring an alltogether different squad down the road because the Lady Spikers know when to switch on winning time when it matters.

In the Philippine Super Liga, the seven other teams will simply have to perform at a much higher level to try and snatch a game from the undefeated Petron Blaze Spikers. Petron has won 11 straight, with the ability to win tough sets and dominate opponents.

Despite a straight-sets loss to Petron last Saturday, the F2 Logistics Cargo Movers remain as the strongest threats to the unbeaten squad. F2 is a team with its own championship pedigree and knows the right time to turn on a championship performance.

Generika-Ayala and PLDT Home Fiber have elevated their games and could give the league leaders a challenge. PLDT has already scored one of the biggest wins with a tripping of F2.

The rest of the field will simply have to display mental toughness moving forward.

A solid mental outlook helps create more focused concentration and better passing and attacking.

Petron is simply dominant in every department and it doesn’t help your cause if you play listless or sloppy volleyball against them.

Moving on, teams will have to bring stronger games because the league leaders know which version of their team will show up when it’s winning time.