MANILA, Philippines — Alyssa Eroa couldn’t help but shed some tears after the Galeries Tower High earned their first PVL playoff appearance in a stunning fashion on Thursday.

Eroa’s teammates e and coaches immediately to their captain libero to comfort and celebrate with her their historic qualifying round upset of No. 3 Cignal, 25-17. 25-22 19-25, 25-19, for a ticket to the 2024-25 All-Filipino Conference quarterfinals.

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READ: PVL: Galeries Tower stuns Cignal to advance to quarterfinals

Behind Eroa’s emotional moment was a result of her hard work and non-stop motivation for the HighRisers in practice, admitting she’s a ‘perfectionist’ teammate and not afraid to tell the truth to her team after a 1-10 finish in the preliminary round.

“I’m a perfectionist when it comes to them. I’m not the dramatic type, so whatever comes out of my mouth, that’s it. It’s kind of like no filter,” Eroa told Inquirer Sports after defending Galeries floor with 28 digs.

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Alyssa Eroa and the Galeries Tower High Risers’ in win over Cignal HD Spikers in the PVL All-Filipino Conference qualifying round. -MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

“I just say what I say, and I’m not going to apologize if it hurts you. But I think what I want my teammates to learn from me is probably maturity and the courage to perform on the court.”

Her perfectionist demeanor may have helped her teammates show maturity and apply all the learnings from their heartbreaking losses to pick the right time to get their first win against Cignal.

“It feels like there are so many games we could have won, but this is the one we really wanted to win. We’ve been through a lot, and what we’ve been through is really deep. That’s why we poured everything into this game,” Eroa said.

READ: PVL: Galeries Tower Highrisers seek balance, character at resumption

“It’s just so emotional because we were able to show people—those who believe in us, the management, and the coaches—that we have something to prove.”

“It was the first time I felt chills during match point. We were the ones on match point, and we’d been waiting so long for that moment. I’m just really proud of my teammates because each of us did our part and worked together to make it happen,” she added.

Eroa said she doubted her teammates despite being pitted against the No.3 team after strings of narrow losses. Now, they await the winner of Akari and Farm Fresh duel.

“From the start, there was never any doubt about our teammates or our team. We really had trust in each other. But, you know, we’ve always fallen short at the end. Still, I’m so proud of my teammates and our coaches because we really fought through this qualifying round,” she said.

Galeries made it this far and Eroa vows they will leave everything on the floor in their first-ever playoffs.