Petro Gazz eyes back-to-back wins
Games today: (Philsports Arena)
1 p.m. –-- ZUS Coffee vs Cignal 3 p.m. –-- Choco Mucho vs Akari 5 p.m. –-- Capital1 vs Petro Gazz
Defending champion Petro Gazz seeks to maintain its strong start for a second straight win against young squad Capital1 in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Reinforced Conference Pool B today at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.
Behind tried and tested Cuban import Wilma Salas, the Angels launched their three-peat bid with a straight-sets win over rebuilding Zus Coffee.
Fresh off a four-day break, Petro Gazz returns to action in the last of the three action-packed pairings slated at 5 p.m. locked on taking down another inexperienced squad in the Solar Spikers.
Salas, who dropped 15 points in a 25-16, 25-21, 25-21, win over the Thunderbelles in her first game after leading the Angels in the 2019 edition title, will have a solid crew to back her up bannered by Brooke Van Sickle, Remy Palma, Aiza MaizoPontillas and Jonah Sabete.
Capital1, on the other hand, is in search of its first victory following an 18-25, 25-27, 25-22, 14-25 loss to Akari.
Solar Spikers head coach Roger Gorayeb will pin his hopes of completing an upset on Russian import Marina Tushova, Leila Cruz,
Iris Tolenada, Lourdes Clemente and Shola Alvarez.
Meanwhile, Cignal also aims to remain unbeaten and stay in the lead when it challenges Zus Coffee at 1 p.m. while Akari targets the same against Choco Mucho at 3 p.m.
The Chargers are bracing for a strong fightback from the Flying Titans, who are out to redeem themselves from a shutout loss to the hot-starting HD Spikers, 16-24, 21-25, 18-25, last week.
Akari is set for an early on-court reunion with former stalwart Dindin Santiago-Manabat, who transferred to the Flying Titans during the offseason.
After hurdling past Capital1, Japanese head coach Taka Minowa expressed his focus on building a connection between import Oly Okaro and the rest of the Chargers, given their limited preparation time prior to the conference.
“Since the exchange of AkariNxled players, we haven’t had enough time to practice because a lot of players were injured last conference and after we started practice. Until Oly (Okaro) came to Akari, we haven’t done any sixon-six,” Minowa said.
“Maybe this time, we will start doing six-on-six and also build the team’s connection, especially since we don’t have any tune-up. We need to maximize this time to be better and also have a connection with Oly. As a coach, this is my purpose: the combination with Oly and integrating her with Akari,” he added.