Farm Fresh coach Alessandro Lodi was in awe of Belgian spiker Eli Rousseaux after her explosive 38-point performance in her PVL debut, but he also challenged his local players to raise their level for the Foxies to go far in the 2025 Reinforced Conference.
Losing the first set didn’t stop Rousseaux from having a rousing debut as she tallied 31 kills, four aces, and three blocks on top of 15 excellent receptions and eight digs to lift Farm Fresh past Nxled 22-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-21, in Pool A on Thursday at Dasmariñas Arena here. Lodi said they found not just the right player, but also the right personality to fit his young squad.
‘The good thing I did was picking not only the right player which was kind of easy to do, but picking the right person to integrate very well with these players, to understand them, to not judge them. You have to really find the right player but that’s one part of the deal and the biggest part is finding the right person,’ said the Foxies’ Italian coach.
‘Eli is the perfect person to complement this team, to work with this team, work for the others and the others work for her so we’re very optimistic for this league.’ Rousseaux, a 34-year-old former Belgium national team player, came from a gruesome ankle injury in Turkey last March and dazzled in her first PVL game.
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She thanked Lodi for trusting her and giving her the confidence that led to her major comeback.
‘ I was already really grateful the last couple of weeks being here and feeling healthy again and getting my shape back. Today I just went to this game without expectations whatsoever, to be honest. I just wanted to enjoy volleyball again,’ said Rousseaux.
‘We talked before coming here with Alessandro a lot. I feel that he trusted and helped me to get this level back, and this is something that for sure helped me to go into this game in a very positive way.’
Despite the impressive debut of Rousseaux, the Farm Fresh coach stressed that they can’t rely on the Belgian super scorer alone.
‘She cannot save us, you know? She can’t carry us. This is not fair to expect and we would never expect us. Yes she is gonna be the top scorer but we need more people to contribute, we need to lower her load because we want her to finish this league alive, both for performers’ sake and also for the rest of her career, it’s not gonna end in November. Great job for her,’ said Lodi.