Note: this article has been edited to include information that Lindsay Stalzer will miss F2's first three games.
One of the best ways to reclaim a crown once held is to lure one of the key components of the team that took the crown away. It will take some getting used to seeing last season's Philippine Superliga (PSL) Grand Prix MVP Lindsay Stalzer in the yellow and red colors of F2 Logistics. Stalzer, however, will not be around yet when the former champions open the season against the Cignal HD Spikers on Tuesday at the Filoil/Flying-V Centre in San Juan City as she is still finishing up on another stint abroad and will likely miss the Cargo Movers' first three games.
With the core of the team now back in the UAAP, the Cargo Movers will still have its starting line-up composed of six national team members. However, this being the GP, head coach Ramil de Jesus will now have to mix and match who will see the floor first among his plethora of stars. It will depend on which team F2 will be locking horns with. That's how deep and potent the roster is:
Lindsay STALZER - OH (Bradley)
Aby MARAÑO - MB (DLSU)
Rebecca PERRY - OP (Washington)
Dawn MACANDILI - L (DLSU)
Ara GALANG - OH (DLSU)
Fritz Joy GALLENERO - L (USLS)
Kim FAJARDO - S (DLSU)
Majoy BARON - MB (DLSU)
Cha CRUZ-BEHAG - OH (DLSU)
Bien JUANILLO - OP (LPU)
Kim Kianna DY - OP/OH (DLSU)
Klarisa ABRIAM - OH (NU)
Alex CABANOS - S (UST)
Mitch MORENTE - OH (DLSU)
Head Coach: Ramil DE JESUS
Gone from the roster that also competed in the recently concluded 2018 All-Filipino Conference are May Luna, Tin Tiamzon, Michelle Cobb and Aduke Ogunsanya with Mitch Morente actually eligible to play her final year with the Lady Spikers' varsity squad but circumstances had her winding up with the Cargo Movers instead.
The national team unit composed of skipper Aby Maraño, F2 captain Cha Cruz-Behag, Majoy Baron, Kim Kianna Dy, "Miss Everywhere" Dawn Macandili and the inimitable Kim Fajardo will have their minutes spread with Stalzer and Rebecca Perry bringing in the extra firepower. Fajardo starting at the setter's spot and Macandili at the libero are the only certainties in the rotation that can have multiple variations due to Stalzer's versatility and the infusion of Perry-an American who sees action for the Italian beach volleyball national team as a "naturalized" player.
Perry, 30, is only three years returned to the indoor games after opting to forego all offers to play on Taraflex due to a dispute in Poland in 2015.. She was about to be included in the Italian national team to compete in the 2016 Rio Olympiad when it was learned that her eligibility papers as a naturalized citizen had not been completed and thus was dropped for the roster.
This will be Perry's third tour of duty in the Asian scene after suiting up for GS Caltex-Seoul in 2011 and for Hyundai Hillstate in 2018, both in the Korean V-League. She has seen action in four continents and will be looked upon to lend ample support to the volume scoring Stalzer who at 32 is still one of the most unstoppable forces in the league.
Stalzer will actually be rejoining the F2 Logistics franchise, but it will be for the first time in the PSL.
It will be recalled that the 6'1" Illinois native joined a phalanx of international reinforcements for the PSL-F2 Logistics Manila contingent that competed as the host nation in the 2016 FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship held at the Mall of Asia Arena. But that year, she was still the listed import of the Foton Tornadoes in the GP-and went on to claim the crown as well.
As the old adage goes, "if you can't beat them, join them". In Stalzer's first four seasons in the PSL she had only failed to deliver the title to her team twice: in her maiden voyage with Cignal (fourth) and in 2017 with Petron when the team she now joins denied the Blaze Spikers a back-to-back championship run.
It is scary to imagine the arsenal the Cargo Movers now have and with their symphony being conducted by arguably the best volleyball orchestrator in the land in Fajardo, it won't be long before this proud franchise gets another opportunity to corral its fourth crown to become the second-winningest in league history.
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