By JEROME LAGUNZAD
With less than a month to go before the 2018 Philippine Superliga (PSL) Grand Prix, familiar faces and fresh recruits have started to arrive as teams intensify their respective buildups for the season-opening conference.
American hitter Kennedy Bryan of defending champion F2 Logistics is one of the early birds among ‘balik-imports’ and will team up anew with reigning MVP, Venezuelan Maria Jose Perez, in the Cargo Movers’ title-retention bid.
F2 Logistics, expected to miss the core of reigning two-time UAAP champion La Salle Lady Spikers, is also keen on bolstering its floor defense behind former Iriga City libero Minami Yoshioka of Japan.
Cignal, still reeling from the loss of top local Jovelyn Gonzaga who’s still recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, is hoping to have a better showing with the acquisition of former University of Texas El Paso star Jeane Horton.
Ukrainian Bohdana Anisova is already back in town to spearhead the title campaign of Sta. Lucia Lady Realtors, now handled by former HD Spikers mentor George Pascua.
Serbian Katarina Vukamanovic, together with newcomers Canadian Elizabeth Wendel and American Brooke Kranda, are already working on their cohesion with powerhouse Foton Tornadoes who’ll be guided by new coach Rommel Abella.
Spanish-born spiker Darlene Ramdin is also back for another tour of duty with Generika-Ayala, conspiring anew with Croatian Katarina Pilepic and Mexican libero Kimberly Gutierrez who is expected to arrive next week.
Former Tornadoes reinforcement Sara Klisura, who exploded for a league-high 41 points in the same conference last year, will arrive next week as she will be joining forces with Serbian mentor Moro Branislav at Cocolife.
The Asset Managers will also have American Taylor Milton back in the fold, giving them enough weapons to make a serious title run after finishing fourth overall the last time out.
Petron, like Cocolife, has yet to plunge back to training with its imports but the Blaze Spikers are expected to lean anew on Americans Hillary Hurley and Lindsay Stalzer plus Japanese libero Yuri Fukuda who will all arrive next week.