All nine Premier Volleyball League teams stepped up in their recruitment efforts, getting tough and tested guest players for the Reinforced Conference's return after a three-year hiatus.
Unlike in the 2019 edition of the tournament which had two imports per team, only one reinforcement will be fielded for each team this time in this tournament organized by Sports Vision and backed by Bingo Plus, Mikasa, and KUMU.
And each team made sure to make the most out of their get.
Newcomer Akari got the most decorated import in the field in Prisilla Rivera.
Rivera, a 6-foot-1 outside spiker from the Dominican Republic, is a three-time Olympian.
Meanwhile, F2 Logistics will be banking on familiarity after its one conference absence, getting Lindsay Stalzer.
For those not familiar with Stalzer, she led the Cargo Movers to numerous domestic league championships.
Not to be outdone, defending champion Petro Gazz got vastly-experienced American Lindsey Vander Weide.
Vander Weide will look to replicate what Wilma Salas and Janisa Johnson did for the franchise three years ago.
Gunning for a historic Grand Slam, Creamline signed 6-foot-2 opposite spiker Yeliz Basa.
Basa won the gold medal at the 2014 Women's European Volleyball League playing for Turkey.
Creamline's sister team Choco Mucho also got a national team mainstay in Azerbaijan's Odina Aliyeva.
PLDT will field the tallest import in the batch, getting 6-foot-4, Russian outside spiker Elena Savkina-Samoilenko.
Cignal, on the other hand, got a young gun in Tai Bierria -- a 6-foot-1 product of Memphis University and New Mexico University.
Chery Tiggo selected Jelena Cvijovic of Montenegro as its guest player. Cvijovi? has played in numerous parts of Europe, including Serbia, Romania, Greece, and Turkey.
Finally, United Auctioneers-Army signed explosive Canadian hitter Laura Condotta.
Opening the tournament at Ynares Center Antipolo will be PLDT taking on UAI-Army at 2:30 PM. Serving as the main course will be the game between Akari and Cignal at 5:30 PM.
The games will air on One Sports, One Sports+, Cignal Play, and Smart Gigaplay. It will also be streamed on PVL.ph and KUMU.
