Bigger, better Superliga up

MANILA, Philippines - A heavy, action-filled calendar marks this year’s Philippine Superliga, which has expanded its program to include beach volleyball and a hosting of an Asian level tournament.

PSL president Ramon Suzara announced the league’s plans and programs for 2015, highlighted by a pair of beach volleyball tournaments, a Battle of the Champions and the country’s hosting of the prestigious Asian U23 Women’s Championship.

The country’s first and only inter-club volleyball league kicks things off with a two-day draft camp on March 6 and 7, followed by the Annual PSL Draft where Amanda Villanueva of Adamson, Angeli Araneta of University of the Philippines, Pam Lastimosa of UST and Denden Lazaro of Ateneo loom as top candidates.

The PSL All-Filipino Conference unwraps on March 21 with four returning teams – Petron, Foton, Philips Gold (former Mane ‘N Tail) and Cignal –disputing the crown against two to four expansion teams.

The league’s organizer, SportsCore, is expected to wrap up deals with the new teams before the month ends.

TV5 is set to broadcast the games on free television while Solar Sports will carry the programs on cable channel.

The league, however, will take a break from May 1 to 9 to give way for the country’s hosting of the Asian U23 Women’s Championship.

The All-Filipino Conference ends on May 31 and will be quickly followed by the PSL Beach Volley Summer Challenge Cup from June 5 to 7 at the newly built sand court of SM Mall of Asia. All teams are required to field two of their best – and prettiest – players to raise the level of play and generate interest.

Suzara added that they will also organize the first-ever Women’s Champions League where the best teams from four major volleyball stakeholders – PSL, Shakey’s V-League, UAAP) and  NCAA will slug it out to determine which is the best team in the country.

“This is going to be the final showdown, the battle of the best volleyball teams in the country,” Suzara said.

 adding that Arellano University is already seeded after winning the NCAA crown last month.

“It’s going to be exciting because this is the first time that the four big stakeholders will be cooperating in giving the fans an ultimate volleyball experience. This is for the betterment of Philippine volleyball.”

The Women’s Champions League is set from Aug. 15 to 22. But prior to that, reigning champion in the men’s division, Cignal, will fly to Taipei to compete in the Asian Men’s Club Championship set on Aug. 13 to 21.

The league will also stage another beach volleyball tournament on Aug. 28 to Oct. 11, an open conference where company employees, students and even ordinary volleyball enthusiasts can compete in the PSL Beach Volley Open Series.

Petron, meanwhile, will represent the country in the Asian Women’s Club Championship in Vietnam from Sept. 12 to 20 as part of its incentive for winning the PSL Grand Prix last year. There’s a possibility that former Miss Oregon Alaina Bergsma will be back to team up with Erica Adachi in leading the Blaze Spikers against the best club teams in Asia.

Finally, the culmination of the league’s calendar will be the PSL Grand Prix from Oct. 17 to Dec. 5.

This early, top volleyball players from Italy, Brazil, United States and Russia are already expressing their interest to play in the country after the highly-successful edition of the Grand Prix last year.

“Rest assured that the Grand Prix will be more action-packed and exciting than what we had last year,” Suzara said. “This is our way of giving it back to volleyball fans who never get tired of supporting the development and improvement of the sport in the country.”