Choco Mucho starts its title campaign against slumping PLDT Home Fibr on Wednesday in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference at the PVC Socio-Civic & Cultural Center in Bacarra, Ilocos Norte.
Match is at 6 p.m. with the Flying Titans seeking a strong start in their first professional match.
The Flying Titans were supposed to open their bid against the BaliPure Water Defenders last Sunday but the rainy conditions caused hours of delay on the day’s schedule that prompted organizers to reset their match to a later date.
Choco Mucho is expected to parade a slew of former collegiate stars from the Ateneo Lady Eagles that include triple tower Kat Tolentino, Maddie Madayag and Bea De Leon, Ponggay Gaston, Deanna Wong and Denden Lazaro-Revilla.
But the Flying Titans are not taking the Power Hitters any lightly as PLDT is eager to crawl out of a 0-2 hole following defeats from Chery Tiggo and Sta Lucia in straight sets.
Veteran setter Rhea Dimaculangan hopes to convert more offense from their spikers that include Isa Molde and CJ Soyud, but they would need to toughen up their defense to survive Choco Mucho’s hard-hitting attackers.
Meanwhile, Sta Lucia hopes to follow up its 25-18, 25-19, 25-21 triumph over PLDT last Monday when it takes on Cignal HD at 3 p.m.
Toting a 1-1 card, the Lady Realtors pin their hopes on Mika Reyes, MJ Philips and Aiza Pontillas to lead them anew after finishing in twin figures the last time.
Cignal, for its part, tries to recover from a 25-16, 25-13, 25-19 loss to Chery Tiggo last Monday with Janine Marciano and Rachel Anne Daquis to lead the charge.
Marciano and Daquis combined for 18 points the last time, but those were still not enough to lift the team to a first victory.
The duo is also expected to get reinforcements from setter Ayel Estranero and libero Jheck Dionela.