FOR the first time, Nxled scored a five-setter victory in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) 2024 All-Filipino Conference on Tuesday, April 9, and no one is more thrilled than head coach Taka Minowa.

Yet, despite the 24-26, 25-20, 25-23, 20-25, 15-11 win against Farm Fresh, the Japanese coach thinks his young team still needs more maturity.

"No maturity yet," Minowa said smiling.

"It's just like they are still a young team. We traded points and sets, and it's a characteristic of a young team because we struggled to finish the game."

Still, it was something the team can look forward to.

"Last conference we cannot start better, so for now it is better. But the problem is the middle of the game and the end of the game, that is our program and that is where we need to improve," Minowa added.

Aside from Ivy Lacsina's 21-point outing, Minowa also activated another open hitter Chiara Permentilla, who was named Player of the Game after scoring 16 points.

Go-to opposite spiker Lycha Ebon, meanwhile, added 17.

The Japanese coach was quick to assess his players as he shared the strengths and weaknesses of each after the game

"Actually the difference between Jho (Maraguinot) and Chiara (Permentilla) is consistency, Jho is consistent in receiving, while Ivy cannot receive. As for Chiara, if she recovers, she recovered, but if she did not recover, she can't really recover, that is her problem, but she can improve," Minowa said even as Permentilla and Ebon were beside him during the post-game presser.

"In the last conference, I already told Chiara she needs to improve. Only not this match, she needs to improve, she needs to recover. Maybe, I hope she will get past this problem."Minowa, however, was delighted that Nxled showed grit in their five-setter match against the Foxies."About the game, it is really nice to see that we won in five sets. As Nxled, it's our first time experiencing the five-set," Minowa said.The Chameleons will try to pull off another win when they will face the defending champion Creamline on Saturday, April 13, at 6 p.m., at the PhilSports Arena.