PLDT’s Kim Fajardo, right, celebrates with her teammates after winning the PVL on Tour title at the expense of Chery Tiggo.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Kim Fajardo said facing her former longtime teammates Ara Galang and Aby Maraño made winning the PVL championship tougher to achieve.
Fajardo on Sunday orchestrated a balanced PLDT attack to hold off a hard-fighting Chery Tiggo, 25-17, 25-17, 19-25, 24-26, 15-8, to claim the PVL on Tour preseason crown at Mall of Asia Arena.
READ: PVL on Tour: PLDT withstands Chery Tiggo for first title
Kim Fajardo on winning the #PVLonTour title. #PVL2025 @INQUIRERSports pic.twitter.com/ug54VnKQJZ
— Lance Agcaoili (@LanceAgcaoilINQ) August 17, 2025
As expected, Fajardo and the High Speed Hitters had to dig deep to stop Galang and the Crossovers, who came back from a two-set deficit.
“It felt like I was going up against myself. And we all know, the hardest opponent is yourself,” Fajardo told reporters. “On the other side of the net were Ara and Tyang. We all share the same values, especially when it comes to playing. When you know how they play and that they play like you, they won’t back down. You just know they’ll fight hard and make it tough for you.”
But tired of their previous heartbreaks, the 31-year-old playmaker refused to miss the golden opportunity to win PLDT’s first-ever PVL title as she activated her middles, Finals MVP Mika Reyes and Majoy Baron, and made the most of her talented spikers, led by Savi Davison.
“My mindset was just to play well and help the team, however I could, because I know how hard it was. I know the struggle we went through during training, how exhausting it was every single day,” said Fajardo.
“You don’t want all that hard work to go to waste. You don’t want to finish in fourth again, which kept happening before. That became my mindset: I don’t want us to go through that again.”
READ: Ramil De Jesus shares proud moment with ex-players in PVL final
Being consistent with her brilliant playmaking to spread the offensive wealth of a complete and healthy PLDT, Fajardo helped her squad sweep all eight games on the way to the first-ever PVL on Tour championship.
“I don’t want to say we didn’t expect this, because we really worked hard for it. And when you put in the work, you should expect a good outcome. That’s why this moment is just pure joy, we reached our goal,” she said.
The former La Salle setter was proud of herself after overcoming her ex-teammates in front of coach Ramil De Jesus.
But winning her first won’t stop her from wanting more.
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“The teams in the PVL keep raising their level, so we have to keep raising ours, too. Now that we’ve hit our goal, I’m just really, really happy.
But we can’t stop now, especially with the next conference already starting this Thursday,” said Fajardo.
