8 Imports Who Made Us Love Philippine Volleyball
Jun 15, 2017 • Cher Ibañez
You cannot deny the fact that volleyball‘s popularity has been growing every single day here in the Philippines. Right now, our country has been tripling their efforts to be back in the international stage and claim their lost glory. The thing is that the international volleyball scene right now is different than the ones our country has dominated before. Luckily, our two volleyball leagues bring in the best imports that they can recruit not only to help bring in more firepower to their team but also to teach our local players the wisdom and knowledge that someday they will use in t
Lynda Morales
Olympic Game Day! VS Serbia. Focused and prepared! @5pm here in Rio. 1pm PST#EquipoPUR #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/CgVX0F2JTd
— Lуnɗα Morαℓes (@Lovelynda18) August 8, 2016
She’s a member of the Puerto Rico Women’s National Volleyball Team. Lynda played for RC Cola Air Force Raiders and in Cignal HD Spikers in the Philippine Superliga. She was also tapped as one of the reinforcements for the PSL-F2 Logistics Manila in the prestigious FIVB Women’s Club World Championship. Oh did I also mention that she played in the 2016 Rio Olympics? Indeed she is a very decorated player and we hope to see her again play soon.
Phee Nok Kesinee
Volleyball fans from way before probably knows this go-to middle hitter who was tapped by Ateneo to be its guest player numerous times at Shakey’s V-League (now Premiere Volleyball League). She was even dubbed as “The Queen of Thai imports” before the sport reached its current popularity. Language wasn’t a hindrance because she was known for as being vocal, fierce and always brings her a-game. Her intimidating presence at the net will really make any player step up their game.
Alaina Bergsma-Coble
Who says sports and pageantry can’t mix? Not only the 2012 winner of Miss Oregon USA pageant, she was also the 2014 Philippine Superliga Grand Prix Finals MVP while playing for Petron. She has been known as a very powerful hitter so no wonder other club teams were doing their best to scout her. She played recently in Daejeon KGC in South Korea where on one game, she scored a personal best of 55 points. Now that’s impressive!
Jang Bualee
Other than Kesinee, she’s probably one of the hardest hitting and imports that Shakey’s V-League has brought to our country. She showed our local players how a powerful spike looks like. She has also won numerous individual awards which makes her a player to watch out for every game. Currently she’s back here in the Philippines playing for BaliPure Purest Water Defenders in the Premiere Volleyball League.
Erica Adachi
Setters have the most complex role in volleyball but Erica makes it look so easy. She was also a former member of the Brazil U18 team. During her stint with Petron, she took home two best setter awards. Besides the awards, she also won the hearts of the fans because of her personality. Fans will always welcome her back with open arms for sure.
Phomla Soraya
Another brilliant setter that graced our taraflex courts. She is an example of “Height doesn’t matter in volleyball as long as you have skills”. This Thai setter’s speed and volleyball IQ is just impeccable no wonder she won the Finals MVP award while playing for Cagayan. Now she is currently with Supreme Chonburi that recently won the 2017 Asian Women’s Club Championship in Kazakhstan.
Kristy Jaeckel
Reaching 40 points in a single match is really rare especially here in our leagues but Kristy showed otherwise. She is remembered as the hard hitting American with a never say die attitude in games. Although their team wound up in last place, she will always be remembered. We hope we can see her strut her stuff on our courts again.
Stephanie Niemer
Of course who will forget this explosive player from the USA? During her stay with Petron, she bagged the 1st Best Outside Spiker award. She was also one of the imports who represented PSL –F2 Manila in the prestigious FIVB Club World Championship on which she delivered the final point of the 3rd set against defending champions, Eczacibasi VitrA of Turkey. Now she’s currently training with team USA and we hope to see her career soar up to new heights.
Which of these imports is your favorite? Tell us about it below!
