Smart's Silva inevitably shatters PSL scoring record

MANILA, Philippines – Everybody was shocked when Gyselle Silva erupted for a league record of 56 points in Smart’s five-set loss to Cocolife in the Chooks to Go-Philippine Superliga Grand Prix over the weekend at the Batangas City Sports Center in Batangas City.

Silva played like a house on fire.

She tallied 53 attacks and three aces to surpass the 41-point effort delivered by Sara Klisura when she powered Foton to a five-set conquest of F2 Logistics last year also at the same venue.

Her impressive output installed her at the third spot of the all-time world scoring record behind Polina Rahimova of Azerbaijan, Madison Kingdon of United States and Elitsa Vasileva of Bulgaria.

Rahimova set the world scoring record with 58 points while playing for the Japan V-League in 2015 while Kingdon and Vasileva delivered an identical 57 points while competing in the Korean Volleyball League (KVL) in 2017 and 2013, respectively.

Silva surpassed the 55-point effort of Americans Nicole Fawcett and former Petron import Alaina Bergsma, who exploded while playing in the KVL in 2014 and 2016.

International volleyball observers also noticed her effort, with no less than the International Volleyball Federation giving her special mention in its official social media account.

True enough, Silva pulled off a shocking performance.

But there’s one person who wasn’t surprised — Smart head coach Ronald Dulay.

Dulay said Silva was training with fire in her eyes prior to resetting the league’s scoring record.

In fact, shortly after they suffered their eighth consecutive loss of the conference, Silva made a bold pronouncement that if she has to score 50 points just to give the Giga Hitters their first win, she would do it in a heartbeat.

Then came the explosion.

“I know she’s going to break it,” said Dulay, the mentor responsible for scouting, negotiating and bringing a gem of a talent like Silva to the country.

“She’s been mentioning it to me countless times. Then the other day, she talked to me. She said ‘coach, we want to win on Saturday.’ So everything was planned. She worked hard and prepared herself for it.”

Even her opponent paid respect to Silva’s golden performance.

Cocolife libero Denden Lazaro said that being at the receiving end of Silva’s thunderbolt-like attacks squeezed out the best in her. Her spikes were packed with power and you have to be at your best to come up with a good first ball.

“Grabe sya! Ibang level. Sobrang bigat (ng mga bola niya),” said Lazaro, who is no stranger to solid attacks after serving as libero for the national women’s volleyball team for the past three years.

Cocolife head coach Moro Branislav added that Silva treated local fans to a dazzling display of volleyball prowess, probably the best ever he had seen in his decades-long coaching at the international level.

 “She’s an excellent player. One of the best I’ve ever seen,” said the noted Serbian guru, adding that a victory could have made the achievement a little sweeter.

“But this could have been good if they get the win. That’s the most important thing in a volleyball game. Individual excellence must be backed with team effort.”

When sought for comment, Silva, who hardly speaks English, politely begged off.

It's up to her 56-point performance to do the talking.