CARMELA Tunay’s impressive outing in the 12th Shakey’s V-League Collegiate Conference came to a screeching halt after suffering a nose injury during the Golden Tigresses’ battle with the Technological Institute of The Philippines Lady Engineers last August 2.
The veteran utility spiker underwent operation last Aug. 4 to fix her cracked nose bridge after a collision with team captain Pamela Lastimosa in the third set of the match.
The fifth-year veteran spiker said that returning to the game would depend on her condition during training as she still experiences minimal pain that hampers her usual game.
“The last [practice] I tried na mag-dig-pass sa gilid, medyo nag-ba-vibrate pa [‘yung] ulo ko. Sana may progress this week para makasabay ako agad and umabot sa pinakamalapit na game na puwede [kong] abutan,” Tunay said. “As much as I can, gusto ko bumalik kasi andoon ‘yung gigil ko makatulong and maglaro. Pero di talaga kaya I was really dizzy and had difficulty in breathing.”
Tunay said she passed out right after the collision. She was brought to the hospital immediately but was in high spirits afterwards especially after the Tigresses pulled off the win in four sets.
The injury served as an unlucky development for Tunay particularly since she had experienced a sort of renaissance in the V-League, averaging 12.5 points in four games. Despite not finishing the match against TIP, the 5’7” senior still scored eight points, helping UST win.
“It’s been a while bago ko [ulit] nakita pangalan ko sa [mga] stats. Isa ‘yan sa motivation ko to do better each game. Kasi if andun ‘yung names namin, we must be doing something right somehow kaya isa ‘yun sa way para mag-maintain at iangat ang laro,” Tunay said.
“Pero like I said, team event ito. In the end, wala naman makakaalala sinong best scorer. Ang maaalala nila is sinong nanalo sa larong ‘to. And that’s what should matter. Na magtulungan kami as a team [para] maipanalo every game.” Carlo A. Casingcasing
