Mina Aganon-Digal suits up for Gerflor. –PSL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Mina Aganon-Digal returns to the volleyball scene after a three-year hiatus, leading the Quezon City Gerflor Defenders in the 2023 Premier Volleyball League Invitational Conference starting on June 27 at FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
Gerflor on Friday unveiled the remaining members of the team including Digal, who last saw action with Generika-Ayala in the 2020 Philippine Superliga that was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 30-year-old outside spiker out of National University is bringing her experience from successful club teams Petron and Foton.
The Defenders will also field Justine Dorog and Jannine Navarro, who both last played for Chery Tiggo, as well as former Cignal HD Spiker Raprap Aguilar and service specialist AJ Jingco.
Gerflor will be handled by coach Edgar Barroga, who is also making his pro debut.
The Defenders are also parading University of the Philippines standouts Alyssa Bertolano and Ethan Arce, middle blockers Ranya Musa, and Andrea Marzan, opposite spiker Shannen Palec, liberos Julia Angeles and Pia Sarmiento as well as setters Fhen Emnas and Sarah Verutiao.
Gerflor is grouped in Pool A with defending champion Creamline, Chery Tiggo, PLDT, and Akari.
Group B features Petro Gazz, F2 Logistics, Choco Mucho, Cignal, Farm Fresh, and Foton as the top two teams in each pool will advance to the round-robin semifinals, where two foreign squads will join.
The squads from the same pool will carry over their head-to-head record into the semis round.
The best two clubs of the semis will advance to the winner-take-all final, while the third and fourth-ranked teams will compete for the bronze medal.
The eliminated squads of the group stage will be relegated to the classification round, while the sixth-placed squad in Pool B will automatically be ranked 13th.