With all her accomplishments and awards, Mika Reyes believes she still has a lot to learn in the game of volleyball.
Fresh from being named as one of two top middle blockers in the Premier Volleyball League Invitational Conference, Reyes, who has played seven years in the club level, insists “the recent conference was a learning experience.”
Speaking during Season 3 pilot of The Athletes’ Tribune hosted by Nikki Viola, the 28-year-old Reyes was recognized as the league’s best middle blocker alongside Del Polomata, saying that they have to credit their teammates for the awards.
“Playing in the semi-pro and pro leagues, there’s a lot of in-game situations that allow me to learn,” Reyes told Viola.
“You don’t always get the result you wanted and you don’t always get a good game. It’s how you adjust and accept your mistakes.”
“Me and Dell told ourselves we never would have gotten our awards if it wasn’t for our teammates. Our work gets lighter because it’s still a team effort. Our confidence got higher, that’s why we were able to help the team more,” she said.
In the Invitational Conference, she caught the eye of KingWhale Taipei head coach Teng Yen-Min along with Creamline’s Tots Carlos.
[Related story: Mika, Tots captivate Taiwanese coach]
“The ones that are always on my mind are PLDT’s No. 3 (Reyes) and Creamline’s Carlos. They’re always on my mind. They couldn’t leave my mind,” said Teng, whose team settled for second place.
In the 2022 PVL season so far, PLDT managed to reach the quarterfinals of the Open Conference before getting into the top four of the Invitational Conference.
Now with the upcoming Reinforced Conference starting this October, Reyes hopes that the High Speed Hitters will sustain its momentum.
“I’m proud of the team since we made it to the Final Four. We’ve been playing well so far and I hope we can sustain it,” Reyes said.
“I hope we can get to know our import. We’re still polishing our moves as we know our opponents are training hard as well.”