THE field in the Shakey’s Girls V-League Tournament of Champions is expected to get its biggest competitors today as the Australian team arrives in time for the competition set for Monday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The team from Victoria, Australia, boasts of three six footers and three national team members, making the race for the national crown even harder than it already is, especially for Cebu representatives Southwestern University.
The 17-year-old Hanna Wright, Katrina Jannsen and Letitia Sindt, many-time members of the Aussie youth squad, are tipped to carry the cudgels for the visiting squad, handled by coach George Santamaria, also a director of the Asian Volleyball Federation.
The other team members are Kate Hutchinson, Lucy Konjarski, Katie Bacon, Eloise Leidle, Lucy Boyes, Nikita Peril, Tayla Mangles, Emma Regan, Vivien Maslov and Mikayla Faltyn.
NCR leg champion Hope Christian High School and runner-up Colegio San Agustin lead the local challenge as representatives of NCR North and NCR South, respectively.
They will be reinforced by the top players from Angelicum and Kings Montessori high school.
Other teams vying for the crown are winners of the Northern, Central and Southern Luzon, Eastern, and Western Visayas and Mindanao regionals. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio