Santiago-Minowa returns to PVL, joins Cool Smashers before US move

Five years after making history as the first champion of the Premier Volleyball League (PVL)'s professional era, Jaja Santiago is returning to the PVL.

Santiago, who now goes by Sachi Minowa after becoming a Japanese citizen in 2024, has signed with the Creamline Cool Smashers for a short stint before moving to the United States to play for the San Francisco Signal in League One Volleyball (LOVB) Pro.

The 30-year-old middle blocker last played in the PVL in 2021, when she led Chery Tiggo to the league's inaugural professional championship. Santiago also became the first Most Valuable Player of the PVL's professional era that season.

She left the Philippines after that historic campaign and continued her career in Japan, returning to the Ageo Medics later in 2021 before playing for Osaka Marvelous and Denso Airybees.

Santiago established herself as one of Japan's top middle blockers, winning Best Middle Blocker honors in 2022 and 2023 while becoming a standout in the country's V.League.

Her return to Creamline also reunites her with Alyssa Valdez, a former teammate from their high school days at the University of Santo Tomas. The two later played together at PLDT in the Shakey's V-League and with the Philippine national team.

They will now reunite in the PVL after beginning their professional-era rivalry on opposite sides.

Santiago and Chery Tiggo defeated Valdez and Creamline in the 2021 championship series, recovering from an opening-game loss to complete a reverse sweep in the best-of-three finals inside the Ilocos Norte bubble.

Five years later, Santiago will wear the Cool Smashers jersey herself.

Standing at 6-foot-5, Santiago gives Creamline another formidable presence at the net and adds depth to a middle blocker group led by 10-time PVL Best Middle Blocker Jeanette Panaga.

She joins Bea De Leon, Sheena Toring, Michelle Gamit, Nica Celis, and Erin Pangilinan in Creamline's middle blocker rotation.

Santiago's PVL return will be short-lived, however, as she will use the stint as a homecoming before beginning the next chapter of her career in the United States with San Francisco.