Akari’s offseason dealings and changes have turned the squad into a legitimate title contender in the coming season-opening Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference starting next month.
With the addition of prolific scorer Grethcel Soltones and a solid middle blocker in Ced Domingo, the Chargers are now fully equipped with the right materials to compete for the crown when action begins on 20 February.
Parading a good mix of veterans and youngbloods under the watchful eyes of new head coach Raffy Monsuela and volleyball operations head Japanese mentor Taka Minowa, much is expected from Akari.
It’s now up to the squad to live up to its tag as a dark horse in the exciting and much more competitive field.
“Hopefully, we would be able to run through all the things that our coaches taught us and all the experiences we learned from the last conference. That we’ll be able to absorb all the good things we’ve learned this time,” veteran winger Dindin Santiago-Manabat said.
Manabat is one of the pioneering members of the club that joined the league in 2022.
The Chargers, however, had a difficult time climbing out of the bottom half of the standings with their best finish being at seventh place in the season-ending 2nd All-Filipino Conference.
Former Brazilian coach Jorge Souza de Brito resigned shortly after a dismal outing and was replaced by Monsuela.
To turn the club’s fortunes around, the businessman Christopher Tiu-owned team joined the offseason arms race to land two grizzled veterans with championship experience.
Soltones has won PVL titles with BaliPure and Petro Gazz while Domingo helped powerhouse Creamline capture four championships. Both also earned Finals Most Valuable Player awards.
Domingo is expected to join the team by early March after she completes her stint with Nakhon Ratchasima VC in the Thai League.
“It took some of the pressure off me because now you know you have other veterans to back you up. We also have young players but we know we can learn a lot from each other. We now have Gretch who came from a champion team just like Ced,” Manabat said.
Coming back for another crack at volleyball glory are skipper Michelle Cobb, rising star Faith Nisperos, Trisa Genesis, Eli Soyud, Ezra Madrigal, Bang Pineda and Fifi Sharma, who along with libero Justine Jazareno came on board last conference.
Mosuela has high hopes for the squad with the firepower it packs this season which complements its already established blocking.
The Chargers led the 2nd AFC in blocking with 2.85 kill blocks per set behind Sharma, Madrigal and Manabat.
“The last time we had a great run with our blocking. But now we have an additional weapon on offense to go with our block and floor defense,” he said.
While Domingo brings in an extra hand on net defense, Soltones will be throwing in her scoring and floor defense.
The versatile open spiker averaged 13.8 points per game with 2.52 digs per set and 31.25 percent reception efficiency in her last dance with the Angels in the 2023 2nd AFC.
“I always say that I’ll give my 101 percent every game,” Soltones said.
“I’d bring to the team my experience and composure especially at crunch time. That and to make them enjoy being on the court. I guess the team is a little bit too serious. I’d like to make them loosen up a bit.”
With key pieces in place, what is left for the Chargers to work on in the coming weeks is to solidify their team chemistry.
A fact, Manabat knows very well.
“We’re now working on our jelling and familiarity. The past conferences saw a lot of new players coming in. I guess my expectation is for us to polish our movement,” she said.
“That we only need to look into each other’s eyes to know what we should do inside the court.”
