COMPETITION in the Philippine Superliga (PSL) Grand Prix hits a new phase beginning today as the semifinal round commences with a pair of best-of-three series.
Kicking off at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City, the now-reduced field of combatants will see top seeds and defending champions F2 Logistics Cargo Movers against the fourth seeds Foton Tornadoes featured in one semifinal pairing while the number two team Petron Blaze Spikers battle third seeds Cocolife Asset Managers in the other.
F2 Logistics, which will battle Foton in the 6 p.m. main game today, finished the elimination round with a 9-1 record before eliminating the Smart Prepaid Giga Hitters in the quarterfinals at the first instance, seeing no need to use its twice-to-beat advantage given to the top four teams.
Leading the charge for the Cargo Movers are imports Kennedy Bryan, MJ Perez and Minami Yoshioka.
F2 Logistics will also be banking on its local crew, bannered by Ara Galang, Kim Fajardo, Abi Maraño and Cha Cruz.
Looking to dethrone the Cargo Movers are the Tornadoes, who had a rough elimination round en route to finishing with a 5-5 record.
Foton ousted the Sta. Lucia Lady Realtors in the quarterfinals and is eyeing to build on it and go deeper in the tournament.
The Tornadoes have Dindin Manabat, CJ Rosario, Maika Ortiz, Gyselle Sy and imports Elizabeth Wendel and Channon Thompson now backstopped by collegiate stars Tots Carlos and Isa Molde. Jaja Santiago, too, is set to join the team after her National University team was booted out in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines wars.
“We should want it more than them. F2 Logistics is very strong and disciplined team. But of course, it still has some lapses. And we should be ready to pounce on those lapses,” said Foton coach Rommel Abella of the kind of mind-set they should have in the semifinals against the Cargo Movers.
PETRON VS COCOLIFE
While it, too, finished with a 9-1 card at the end of the elimination round, Petron was relegated to number two in the seedings. But it has hardly mattered as the Blaze Spikers continue to be on top of their game.
Led by imports Lindsay Stalzer, Hillary Hurley and Yuri Fukuda, Petron made short work of the Generika-Ayala Life Savers in the opening round of the playoffs and is keeping its focus of completing an unfinished business after falling short in the finals of the tournament last season.
Also to be counted on are locals Mika Reyes, Frances Molina, Aiza Maizo-Pontillas and Rhea Dimaculangan.
Waiting for the Blaze Spikers are the Asset Managers, who finished the classification phase with a 6-4 card and disposed off the Cignal HD Spikers in the quarterfinals.
Serbian imports Sara Klisura and Marta Drpa are anchoring Cocolife’s push along with Royse Tubino, Tina Salak and Denden Lazaro.
The team hopes to make it to its first finals appearance.
“Petron is the best team this season. I must admit that. But it still lost a match. It still has some flaws. We have to put our best foot forward to expose those flaws and convert it to a victory in the semifinals,” said Cocolife coach Moro Branislav.
The Petron-Cocolife semifinal series kicks off today’s festivities at 4:15 p.m.
PSL matches are broadcast live over ESPN5. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
