Volley legend boosts Akari

MANILA, Philippines — Three-time Olympian Prisilla Rivera brings her all-around game as a middle blocker, opposite hitter and wing spiker to newcomer Akari Power Chargers in the PVL Reinforced Conference with the goal of taking the team deep into the playoffs. The PVL opens hostilities with a double header featuring PLDT against Army and Akari against Cignal at the Santa Rosa Sports Complex tomorrow.

Akari team manager Mozzy Ravena said Rivera is the perfect choice for an import as she’s not only an excellent player but also a Level 3 mentor who can backstop Brazilian head coach Jorge Edson Souza de Brito. “The players are learning not only from coach Jorge but also from Prisilla with her experience,” said Ravena. “Last July, we held tryouts and thought it would be a challenge to bring in players because we were in the middle of the year but over 50 showed up. Honestly, the plan was to join PVL next year. We toyed with the idea of going pro after years of Akari and Christopher Tiu backing up Adamson in basketball and volleyball. But when we spoke with PVL president Ricky Palou, we were convinced to jump right in. Our direction is to form a young team and it’s a blessing that we were able to recruit Michelle Cobb.”

Aside from the 6-1 Rivera, other PVL imports are Chery Tiggo’s 6-1 Jelena Cvijovic, 30, of Montenegro; Choco Mucho’s 6-1 Oldina Aliyeva, 32, of Uzbekistan; Cignal’s 6-1 Tai Bierra, 25, of the US; Creamline’s 6-2 Yeliz Basa, 35, of Turkey; F2’s 6-1 Lindsay Stalzer, 38, of the US; Petro Gazz’ 6-3 Lindsey Vander Weide, 25, of the US; PLDT’s 6-4 Elena-Savkina-Samoilenko, 27, of Russia and United Auctioneers Army’s 5-10 Laura Condotta, 25, of Canada.