Petro Gazz beefs up with US-NCAA standout, Japanese coach

MANILA, Philippines: In an effort to fortify its title hopes in the 2024 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) season, Petro Gazz refueled with signing a former US-NCAA standout and a Japanese coach.

The Angels tapped Filipino-American outside spiker Brooke Van Sickle who played for University of Oregon and University of Hawaii (UH) as well as Japanese Koji Tsuzurabara as their new head coach.

Petro Gazz announced its signing of the player and the coach on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Van Sickle, 24, is as decorated as it gets.

The 5-foot-9 won the MVP, best scorer, and best outside spiker awards to lead the 2021-2022 US-NCAA Big West’s All-Conference Team.

Van Sickle is expected to boost Petro Gazz’s wing rotation with fellow new recruit Michelle Morente and the returning Myla Pablo.

Petro Gazz also signed middle blockers Joy Dacoron and Ethan Arce for a 5-player signing spree this offseason.

Meanwhile, Tsuzurabara is a 37-year veteran whose coaching experience includes stints in Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Taiwan, Vietnam, and his home country Japan.

Tsuzurabara’s recent gigs was being the head coach of Vietnam’s Kinh Bac Bac Ninh U19 women’s team (2022-2023) and of the Taiwan women’s national team (2019-2022).

The 59-year-old last coached in his home country when he handled the Oita Miyoshi Weisse Alder.

Tsuzurabara replaced Timmy Sto. Tomas as Petro Gazz head coach and is the team’s sixth head coach in the past seven conferences.