There's no doubt about Jude Garcia's three Spikers' Turf Most Valuable Player awards.
Field him in, and he delivers.
Garcia's steady performance and unquestionable heart in the 2025 Invitational Conference helped propel the Criss Cross King Crunchers to their fourth consecutive finals appearance.
In the crucial week of the semifinal round, Garcia stamped his class, leading the favored King Crunchers to three straight wins and a 4-1 win-loss record at the end of the round.
Criss Cross now gets a shot at the crown in a winner-take-all championship game against Japan’s Kindai University on Saturday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre.
The first-ever Spikers’ Turf Season MVP unleashed 31 points—built on 30 attacks and a block—in Criss Cross' hard-fought victory against UST-Gameville, 25-17, 23-25, 25-23, 25-23, sealing their Finals berth on Thursday.
Earlier, Garcia scored 25 points to rescue the King Crunchers from a feisty Savouge Aesthetics in a nail-biting five-set showdown, 25-19, 25-14, 23-25, 18-25, 15-12, on Tuesday at the Ynares Center-Montalban.
The 27-year-old spiker started Criss Cross' three-game swing by delivering eight points in an emphatic 25-9, 25-9, 25-13 demolition of Australian guest team ProVolley Academy.
"One step at a time lang kasi hindi pwedeng maging complacent kung ano 'yung ginagalaw namin kasi ang dami namin lapses in the past games,” said the Far Eastern University product.
“Kaya kailangan namin trabahuhin every point and every set ng match sa championship."
With Garcia putting Criss Cross just one win away from a maiden title, he emerged as the unanimous winner of this conference's last Spikers’ Turf Press Corps Player of the Week, presented by Pilipinas Live, for the period of November 24 to 27.
The former Alas Pilipinas beach volleyball star eclipsed his teammate Adrian Villados, Cignal's Jau Umandal, and Kindai University’s Ryutaro Aun and Jaruka Misugi for the weekly plum, deliberated by print and online reporters covering the pioneering men’s volleyball league organized by Sports Vision.
Garcia, who has been leading the three-time runner-up without Marck Espejo, Kim Malabunga, and Eco Adajar due to Alas Pilipinas’ training camp in Taiwan, earned his second Spikers' Turf weekly nod in the year-ending tournament. He also continued to be the winningest player, amassing a total of seven weekly honors since last year in the league, streamed live and on-demand via the Pilipinas Live app and at www.spikersturf.ph.
With one final game against Japanese squad Kindai University at 5 p.m., Garcia vows to leave everything on the floor to finally gift Criss Cross its first Spikers’ Turf championship.
"Mag-double time kami sa mga ginagawa namin and then 'yung focus namin kailangan 100% talaga. 'Yung effort namin kailangan 100% kasi last game na,” he said.
“Kung ano 'yung dapat naming ibuhos na makakaya namin, kung ano 'yung pinaka the best game namin sa Sabado, 'yun 'yung ipapakita namin."
