New coach wants to more output from Foton imports

Rommel Abella emerged a winner in his head coaching debut in the Philippine Superliga, but the multi-titled mentor was not overly satisfied with how his new team Foton performed to open the 2018 season.

The Tornadoes turned back the Generika-Ayala Life Savers, 25-19, 22-25, 25-16, 25-22, but Abella wants to more from his team in the coming games.

“If I’m going to rate our performance earlier, we’re just 60 to 70 percent. Like I said, hopefully, we improve on our mistakes,” he said on Saturday at the start of the Grand Prix tournament at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

The Tornadoes leaned on their hard-hitting trio of Brooke Kranda, Elizabeth Wendel and Dindin Santiago-Manabat, who combined for 46 points.

Kranda, a former Michigan State University star in the US NCAA, scored a game-high 21 points in her professional debut while Manabat and Canadian import Wendel had 14 and 11 points, respectively.

Abella is pleased to see Manabat back in action after suffering an ACL injury last conference, but expects more from his imports particularly on the offensive end in the coming games.

“Actually, we’re expecting a little more. But since it’s only their first game here in the Philippines, their performance is acceptable, but hopefully, they can provide us with more offensive power in our next game.”