MAKING it back to the final round is the main goal of the Petron Blaze Spikers in the 2017 Belo-Philippine Super Liga Invitational Voleyball Tournament when it starts this Saturday at the Arena in San Juan.
Last year, the Blaze Spikers made it to the finals after placing second in the classification round.
They eventually placed third when RC Cola Army Troopers swept their three-game assignment and won the title.
With the Army Troopers on leave, coach Cesael de los Santos believes the team can overachieve their goals this time.
“Every team wants to make it to the top four. We have the same goal. But after that’s we’ll try to overachieve this if we make it to the final round,” said de los Santos.
Eight veterans are coming back from last season, including former La Salle ace Mika Reyes, Aiza Maizo-Pontillas and Arellano bet CJ Rosario.
Then, there’s Carmina Aganon, Mayette Zapanta, Shiela Marie Pineda and Frances Molina.
They took in April Ross Hingpit, Rhea Dimaculangan, Dancel Dusaran, Gianes Dolar and Carmela Tunay.
The Blaze Spikers start the competition a 7 p.m. match against the Coco Life Asset Managers, one of the two new teams along with the Sta. Lucia Realty Lady Realtors.
In earlier games, the Foton Tornadoes will meet the Cignal HD Spikers at 5 p.m. and the Asset Managers take on the Generika-Ayala Lifesavers at 3 p.m.
The top three teams that get past the preliminaries and the classification round will advance to the finals, and will battle it out for the crown with a visiting Japanese team, from Shinwa University in Kobe.
The Lady Realtors is a squad made up mostly of players coming from the College of St. Benilde Lady Blazers, who finished as runners-up in the recent 92nd season of the NCAA.
On the other hand, the presence of talented players like former Ateneo star libero Denise “Denden” Lazaro, and ex-La Salle hitter Michelle Gumabao will give the Asset Managers a fighting chance.
