Giga Hitters gun for first win vs Tornadoes

A LOADED Smart squad will march to the warpath when it clashes with Foton in the Philippine Superliga ( PSL) Grand Prix on Tuesday at the Malolos Sport and Convention Center in Bulacan.

After absorbing a pair of early setbacks, expect the Giga Hitters to go all out when they battle the Tornadoes in the 6 p. m. featured encounter.

Meanwhile, Petron shoots for its fifth consecutive win when it clashes with struggling GenerikaAyala in the 4 pm appetizer.

Despite being assembled at the last minute, the Giga Hitters still provide high level of excitement after acquiring the services of former Cuban national team member Gyselle Silva.

Silva lit up the scoreboard as she delivered 32 kills to finish with 33 points in the Giga Hitters’ straightset loss to Cocolife last week. She followed it up with a 23-point outburst in another straight-set loss to Petron to easily emerge as one of the darlings of the crowd. But Silva couldn’t do it alone. Smart head coach Ronald Dulay said their other import in Serbian Sanja Trivunovic would be finally reporting for duty as well as veteran middle blocker Maureen Penetrante-Ouano.

Trivunovic, who played with Cocolife import Sara Klisura, international star Tijana Boskovic and coach Moro Branislav for Serbian side Partizan Vizura in the early years of her professional career, is said to be a powerful outside hitter who can help Silva carry the scoring cudgel.

She will be aided by PenetranteOuano, a two-time UAAP Most Valuable Player awardee for De La Salle University who was part of the national squad that won the bronze medal in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games in 2005.

“We’re finally complete,” said Dulay, looking forward to another explosive performance from Silva now that Trivunovic and Penetrante- Ouano are finally on board.

“With the arrival of Sanja and Em (Penetrante-Ouano), we will have more options at the attack zone and a much improved defense at the net. These two players are veterans who can give our young players the spunk and grit when things are getting tough.”

On the same note, Foton, which will be bannered by imports Brooke Kranda and Elizabeth Wendel with skipper Dindin Manabat and Maika Ortiz at the middle, is also fresh from a pair of heart-breaking setbacks and and is in dire need to barge back into the win column.