MANILA, Philippines, January 5 ------ Bea de Leon and Denden Lazaro-Revilla have decided to leave Choco Mucho and are set to transfer to the Flying Titans’ sister team, the Creamline Cool Smashers, in the 2024 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) season, sources said. Multiple sources bared to the Inquirer that the Flying Titans pair opted to take their act to the Cool Smashers, who swept their team in their first finals appearance in the second All-Filipino Conference last December.
Another source said that Choco Mucho, which also parted ways with opposite spiker Caitlin Viray, will reveal its recruits soon to fill in the void left by the troika and reinforce reigning All-Filipino MVP Sisi Rondina, Deanna Wong, Kat Tolentino, Cherry Nunag, and Maddie Madayag. The Inquirer reached out to Choco Mucho for confirmation but it has yet to respond as of posting time.
De Leon and Lazaro are reuniting with former Ateneo teammates Alyssa Valdez, Ella De Jesus, and Jia De Guzman, who is still in Japan as the import of the Denso Airybees in the V.League. The group won the first two UAAP titles of the Ateneo Blue Eagles in Seasons 76 and 77 in 2014 and 2015. De Leon, who came off the bench for the Flying Titans last conference, will be plugging in the hole left by former PVL Invitational Conference Finals MVP Ced Domingo as another source revealed that the latter has parted ways with Creamline and is set to join Akari. De Leon, who has been with Choco Mucho since it was formed in 2019, is making a fresh start this 2024, joining middle blockers Jeanette Panaga and Risa Sato in Creamline’s frontline together with a talent-rich wing spiker rotation bannered by Valdez, Tots Carlos, Jema Galanza, Michele Gumabao, and Bernadeth Pons.
Revilla, who signed with the Flying Titans in 2020, teams up with liberos Ella De Jesus and Kyla Atienza under coach Sherwin Meneses after winning two championships out of three conferences last year. Creamline, which played without Domingo and De Guzman in the season-ending conference, swept all its 15 games, heading to the new PVL season with an active winning streak.
The Cool Smashers have emerged as the most successful PVL club with seven titles but have yet to achieve a grand slam, falling short of one conference each in the last two seasons. The Flying Titans, on the other hand, played their best outing yet in the second All-Filipino with a 10-1 finish in the elimination round before overcoming Cignal in three semifinal games before they made their maiden finals berth in coach Dante Alinsunurin’s first season.
Source: sports.inquirer.net
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