CHOCO Mucho will still go all-Filipino in its repeat debut in the 2025 PVL Reinforced Conference.
American winger Marlee Smith arrived in street clothes and did not warm up for the Flying Titans’ conference opener against Cignal on Tuesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
While all imports have been cleared in the aftermath of the PVL-PNVF impasse, she and the team are still sorting out pertinent paperworks before receiving the green light to suit up for Choco Mucho.
"It was just paperwork. We didn't want to risk having to leave but everything should be taken care of by Thursday so it will be okay," Smith told SPIN.ph.
Unlike their opening predicament in their discarded first win over Capital1 last Tuesday in Montalban where both teams had no imports, only Choco Mucho won’t have a reinforcement as Cignal’s Greek spiker Eva Chantava is all cleared to play.
The Flying Titans, long undermanned over the past year through injuries and personnel issues, are now tasked to overcome a steeper climb in a bid to reclaim its retracted first win with the returning Kat Tolentino leading the frontlines.
Unfortunate twist the second time around
Smith, along with every other import, was barred from debuting the first time around in Montalban.
Now the only import to face such a hurdle again, there's plenty of regret in not being able to reunite with her former Nakhon Ratchasima teammate-turned-Cignal import Eva Chantava.
At this point, there's no one much more devout of a believer that third time will be the charm than the embattled Choco Mucho reinforcement.
"As far as I know, yes. I was supposed to be able to [play] today. It's very unfortunate, especially not being able to play against my old teammate. I really wanted to compete against her," she said.
"But again, it should be taken care of."
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