STEPHANIE Niemer was named as the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix MVP after accomplishing Petron’s title-retention bid.
The American import rose to the occasion leading Petron in outlasting rival F2 Logistics, 26-24, 25-19, 23-25, 25-19, to claim franchise’s third Grand Prix crown in a winner-take-all Game 3 Saturday night at the Arena in San Juan.
The newly crowned MVP completed her unfinished business redeeming herself and the team when they lost to Foton in 2016.
Niemer and her fellow import Katherine Bell consistently delivered the goods for the Blaze Spikers through out the conference, where they won 17 straight games from the double-round preliminaries, quarterfinals and semifinals.
Petron stumbled to F2 Logistics in Game 1 of the Finals before sweeping the two important matches to claim their sixth overall title in the league.
Niemer also won the Best Scorer plum, while her partner Bell won the Best Foreign Outside Hitter. Petron playmaker Rhea Dimaculangan earned her third Best Setter plum in the league.
F2 Logistics star Aby Maraño won her eighth Best Middle Blocker plum. Dawn Macandili earned her fifth Best Libero award, while Ara Galang was named as Best Local Outside Spiker.
It was the first time for PSL to give awards for both local and foreign players for the wing spikers and middle blockers.
PLDT import Grace Lazard was the Best Foreign Middle Blocker, while her teammate Aiko Urdas won the Best Local Opposite Spiker. Cignal’s reinforcement Erica Wilson bagged the Best Foreign Opposite Spiker.
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