'Work in progress' Cocolife tempers expectations in PSL

MANILA, Philippines – Expectations would be low when Cocolife marches to the Philippine Superliga  All-Filipino Conference starting October 30 at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

Serbian coach Moro Branislav said they will play with a lot of patience, knowing that they are still a work in progress in this prestigious club tourney bankrolled by Isuzu, Sogo, Senoh, Asics, Mikasa, Mueller, UCPB Gen and Bizooku.

Although they have a Filipino-American spiker in Kalei Mau, they would still temper their expectations on their relatively young core of skipper Marge Tejada, Gyra Barroga, Justine Tiu, Cecilia Bangad, Shannen Palec and Alex Tan.

National team member Denden Lazaro remains the only veteran in the squad while Aerieal Patnongon, Danika Gendrauli, Alex Tan, Shang Berte, Erika Alkuino and Dancel Dusaran back her up in providing leadership.

Also part of the team are Yvette Tongco, Iona Yongco, Jela Pena and Arianna Angustia.

“This is a very young team so we’re trying to manage our expectations,” said Branislav, whose wards failed to figure prominently in the Invitational Conference after a semifinal run in the Grand Prix with fellow Serbians Martha Drpa and Sara Klisura as reinforcements.

“Compared to other teams like Petron and F2 (Logistics) who have been together for years, we were assembled only four months ago. So we will go there and compete to gain cohesiveness and maturity that we can use in the Grand Prix next year.”

Mau could be a gem of a recruit in this tourney that also has ESPN5, AksyonTV and Hyper HD as broadcast partners.

A former member of the Arizona Wildcats in the Division I of the US NCAA, Mau is coming in overflowing with international experience after seeing action in prestigious club leagues in Puerto Rico and France.

She, however, is tipped to have very limited strength as she has yet to fully recover from a shoulder injury.

“She’s coming from an injury and we want to break her gently back into competitive volleyball as much as possible. It’s okay. We’re not rushing,” said Branislav, adding that they would still figure prominently despite Mau’s limited power and lack of competitive experience.

“But we will still play very hard every game. We may be young, but we will play our hearts out and try to win at every given opportunity.”