By Jerome Lagunzad
Games Today
(The Arena, San Juan City)
4:15 pm – Sta. Lucia vs Petron
7:00 pm – Generika-Ayala vs Cignal
Powerhouse Petron aims to seize a hold of the early lead when it takes on Sta. Lucia Realty today in the Chooks to Go-Philippine Superliga (PSL) Grand Prix action at The Arena in San Juan City.
Game is at 4:15 p.m., with the Blaze Spikers aiming to gain a strong follow-up to a straight-set win over the Generika-Ayala Lifesavers over the weekend and the Lady Realtors looking to set their title bid in motion.
Prolific American import Lindsay Stalzer and compatriot Hillary Hurley, who torched the Lifesavers with a combined 32-point output, are expected to lead the Blaze Spikers’ charge anew alongside top locals Mika Reyes, Ria Meneses, Ces Molina and Bernadeth Pons.
“Happy kami sa mga imports namin kasi mga jolly sila,” said Petron coach Shaq delos Santos, who also has Japanese libero Yuri Fukuda in their fold. “Open minded sila sa mga plano namin and sa mga instructions sa training. Nagbibigay rin sila ng kanilang mga suggestions.”
The Lady Realtors are hoping to have such kind of rapport with Canadian imports Marissa Field and Marissa Moncks who groped for form in the course of their sorry meltdown in a five-set loss to newcomer Iriga City Oragons last Tuesday.
Clashing in the main match set at 7 p.m. are Generika-Ayala and Cignal.
The Lifesavers are eager to pick up from where they left off following a 25-11, 23-25, 16-25, 25-13, 15-9 victory over the Cocolife Asset Managers last Tuesday night, with import Darlene Ramdin and Katarina Pilepic tipped to show the way anew.
“Good things happen when we’re having fun. So I told the girls to just relax and enjoy the game,” said Generika-Ayala coach Francis Vicente.
“But our job is not yet done. We have to get a good rest and prepare for Cignal on Thursday (today). We know that Cignal is such a strong team. We have to be at our best against them.”
