Pineda moves to Generika-Ayala

MANILA, Philippines — The massive buildup of Generika-Ayala continues to take shape as it signed Bang Pineda for the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix starting February 17.

 

After a couple of seasons with Petron, Pineda decided to join the Lifesavers, who are in dire need of a defense specialist following the departure of prized liberos Kat Arado and Bia General.

 

Arado, the Best Libero in an international tourney in 2016, will miss the Grand Prix as she returns to University of the East while General opted to play her final season with National University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines.

 

With that, the Lifesavers are strongly contemplating on hiring a third import — a libero — to man the backline and defend it against strong spikers from powerhouse teams like F2 Logistics, Foton and Petron.

 

Then, Pineda came to the rescue.

 

“Bang is a veteran player that has good skills at the libero and spiker position,” said Generika Drugstore COO Jay Ferrer, adding that the former Adamson star will definitely give them a much-needed stability on defense.

 

“She will help us with defensive duties as a libero for the Grand Prix. I would personally like to see the aggressive Bang (Pineda) who used to play for Adamson during her UAAP years.”

 

Pineda is the third player to jump to Generika-Ayala from Petron.

 

Earlier, the Lifesavers acquired the services of playmaker April Ross Hingpit and middle blocker Ria Meneses to establish a solid starting roster headed by imports Darlene Ramdin of Trinidad and Tobago and Katarina Pilepic of Croatia.

 

The starting unit of the Lifesavers, however, has yet to be plotted as they are still in quest for a new head coach who will replace Francis Vicente.

 

Team insiders said Generika-Ayala is already in the final stage of its negotiation with its new mentor and it’s just a matter of time before he can formally take over.