MANILA, Philippines – Expect Petron to march with fire in their eyes when the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix opens on February 17.
Head coach Shaq Delos Santos said they would be eyeing no less than a payback after absorbing a bitter loss to F2 Logistics in the best-of-three finals showdown of the import-flavored conference last December.
The Blaze Spikers were heavily favored last year.
They have three prolific imports in former Most Valuable Player Lindsay Stalzer, Hillary Hurley and libero Yuri Fukuda aside from national team members Mika Reyes, Aiza Maizo-Pontillas, Rhea Dimaculangan and Frances Molina.
They sliced through the eliminations with an 8-1 mark before crushing Generika-Ayala in the quarterfinals and reigning champion Foton in the semifinals to punch a ticket back to the finals.
Against a fluid F2 Logistics squad, Petron opened the series with an impressive straight-set victory, putting it in a perfect position to conquer the crown.
But fate was not in its side.
Trailing behind, 0-9, in the fourth set of Game 2, the Cargo Movers caught fire after head coach Ramil de Jesus shifted American import Kennedy Bryan back to the opposite while veteran Cha Cruz was inserted to be the diagonal of Venezuelan Jose Maria Perez at the open spiker spot.
The gamble paid a handsome reward as the Cargo Movers clawed their way back en route to a five-set victory.
In Game Three, the Blaze Spikers simply ran out of gas as the Cargo Movers went full blast to conquer the title.
This sorry defeat will definitely fuel the Blaze Spikers in the upcoming Grand Prix.
"That's our motivation," said Delos Santos, who served as assistant of George Pascua when the Blaze Spikers made a historic 13-0 run to claim the All-Filipino Conference title in 2015.
© Philstar.com The Petron Blaze Spikers in this file photo. | Philippine Superliga/ Roman Prospero
"We will do our best and step up this year."
The Blaze Spikers will remain intact as Stalzer, Hurley and Fukuda will all return as well as the local crew of Reyes, Maizo-Pontillas, Dimaculangan and Molina.
The only changes will be its bench players as they hired Chloe Cortez and Pia Gaiser following the departure of Bang Pineda, April Ross Hingpit and Ria Meneses to Generika-Ayala and Mina Aganon to Foton.
Delos Santos admitted that their goal is to dethrone the Cargo Movers, who will bring back the same core of Bryan, Perez, Cruz, Aby Marano and Kim Fajardo while adding Ara Galang and Japanese libero Minami Yoshioka to fill the void created by the absence of Kianna Dy, Majoy Baron and Dawn Macandili.
"Our goal is to regain the title," said Delos Santos. "But other teams are also strong and it won't be handed to us on a silver platter. We have to work doubly hard to realize that goal and out Petron back to the top."