Nxled's Brooke Van Sickle and Farm Fresh head coach Koji Tsuzurabara. PVL Media Bureau
MANILA — Former Petro Gazz star Brooke Van Sickle admitted that Coach Koji Tsuzurabara's familiarity with them gave Nxled a hard time offensively during their first game of the 2026 PVL All-Filipino Conference.
Reflecting after their first encounter on different sides of the court, Van Sickle, who is now with Nxled, gave credit to now-Farm Fresh head coach Tsuzurabara for developing the Foxies' defense, aimed at shutting them down.
The Chameleons snatched one in a five-set marathon, 25-23, 13-25, 21-25, 25-15, 15-12, on Tuesday at the Filoil Centre in San Juan.
READ: PVL: New-look Nxled survives Farm Fresh in five-set marathon to open All-Filipino campaign
"I didn't get to talk to them much, but they looked good," answered Van Sickle as she talked about facing Tsuzurabara and former Petro Gazz captain Remy Palma.
"As always, Coach Koji [Tsuzurabara] knows us, so he knows what we struggle at and what we're good at, so I already knew it was gonna definitely be hard offensively to score, just because he knows the players and he's been around the game for a long time," she added.
"I feel like he did a really good job developing Farm Fresh and their defense. I thought they had a lot of good plays, soaked up the ball and playing a lot, making good decisions."
READ: After overhaul in offseason, time for Nxled to put everything together
The three-time PVL MVP acknowledged that they needed to stay patient to finally fend off the Tsuzurabara-mentored squad.
"I defintely think that it was a long-rally game. We had to be patient and stay calm on the other side of the court. I'm glad we were able to pull this off and get underway," said Van Sickle.
Tsuzurabara, along with Van Sickle, helped the Petro Gazz franchise clinch its first All-Filipino title in 2025. Earlier this year, Petro Gazz announced its decision to take a leave of absence from the league, but remains as sponsor of Nxled.
While a reported "merger" between Nxled and Petro Gazz was nixed by the league, the current jerseys of the Chameleons bear the Petro Gazz logo.