Louie Romero (No. 7) prepares to set up Farm Fresh’s offense against Ivy Lacsina (No. 3) and F2 Logistics. Lacsina and Romero are hoping to lead two young squads to greater success in the coming Premier Volleyball League season. —AUGUST DELA CRUZ
They are two of the rising young stars of the league playing for new franchises, and both will be handled by Japanese mentors. Ivy Lacsina and Louie Romero can’t wait to show what they can do in the coming Premier Volleyball League (PVL) season. “[What I can offer] to our young team is the leadership and maturity I got from F2 [Logistics] because I learned a lot from my veteran teammates,” said Lacsina, the former National University star picked up by the Nxled Chameleons from the rubble of the Cargo Movers’ disbandment. “I will trust the process because I am impatient when it comes to my progress.”
Lacsina joins an Nxled squad handled by Japanese coach Taka Minowa, who led the Chameleons to a better finish than its fellow new squads in the last PVL tournament.
Lacsina hopes to contribute to bettering that moderate success, but she has her expectations tempered.
“I am not setting high expectations in my first conference with Nxled because I want to enjoy my first year. Because when you enjoy, the progress of your game will follow. My goal is to improve my skills and help the team,” Lacsina said on Friday.
Minowa is keen on playing the versatile Lacsina as an outside spiker in the coming season, saying moving the 6-foot-1 scorer away from middle blocker chores will help her bid to play in leagues abroad and for the Philippine women’s volleyball team.
“I just talked to her about what she wants in the future. She wants to play abroad and for the national team. In the Philippines, you have a lot of tall middle blockers. It’s better for her to be an outside hitter because in the Philippines, the outside hitters are small. So if she can be a good outside hitter and a good passer, she will be more effective for the national team and PVL,” Minowa told reporters.
Greater heights
“Coach said that we will both try wing and middle, so nothing is final. We’ll know before the league starts,” said Lacsina in Filipino. “I also got used to playing different positions so I am willing to play whatever my role will be as long as it will help the team.”
Like the 24-year-old Lacsina, Romero will have some Japanese mentorship as she hopes to lead Farm Fresh to greater heights this season.
“My goal last season was to improve the standings of Farm Fresh. This season, I hope that we will continue to rise and soon reach the Final Four,” the astute setter told reporters in Filipino during their practice at Gatorade Hoops Center on Thursday evening.
Romero, who debuted in the second All-Filipino Conference last year and keyed the franchise’s first two wins, said the presence of new veteran acquisitions will help the Foxies achieve that goal, along with the hiring of team consultant Hideo Suzuki of Invitational Conference champion Kurashiki Ablaze.
“Expect us to put up a good fight this season. Last season, we lacked maturity because we’re all young players. But this time, our management really supported us in building this team. We want to repay their support [by winning games].”
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Romero will have veteran setter Anj Legacion on her side, while Viray gives a boost to the young wing spiker rotation, composed of leading scorer Trisha Tubu, Kate Santiago, Alyssa Bertolano and Pia Ildefonso.