THE Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. expressed its gratitude to its two major stakeholders for lending their players to the national team that will compete in a pair of major international tournaments this August.
LVPI acting president Peter Cayco said the formation of a strong national squad would not have been possible without the support of the country’s two biggest club leagues—the Philippine Superliga and the Premier Volleyball League.
Skipper Mika Reyes of Petron banners the players from PSL as national team captain.
She is joined by other Superliga veterans Jovelyn Gonzaga and Rachel Anne Daquis of Cignal, Aiza Maizo-Pontillas and Rhea Dimaculangan of Petron and Maika Ortiz of Foton.
Also making the 14-woman roster that will be handled by Francis Vicente of Generika-Ayala are Aby Marano, Dawn Macandili and Kim Fajardo of F2 Logistics, Jaja Santiago of Foton, Frances Molina of Petron, Denise Lazaro of Cocolife and Gen Casugod of Generika-Ayala.
Alyssa Valdez of Creamline represents the PVL in the national women’s team that will see action in the AVC Asian Women’s Club Championship in Manila from Aug. 9 to 17 and the 29th Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur from Aug. 19 to 31.
As a sign of commitment to the national team program, the PSL and its team owners unanimously agreed to shorten the ongoing PSL All-Filipino Conference up to July 15 to give way for the national team’s training in Japan from July 18 to 26 and China from July 27 to Aug. 2.
“This is our way of showing our support to the national team program,” said Suzara, who is also the chairman of the powerful development and marketing committee of the Asian Volleyball Confederation.
“The league is one with LVPI in forming a very competitive national team and plotting its return to glory. We feel that this lofty goal will only be achieved if club leagues will make some sacrifices like making their players available and synchronizing their calendar with that of the national team.”
On the other hand, the men’s team is overflowing with PVL players led by newly crowned Most Valuable Player Ran Abdilla of Philippine Air Force as well as Mark Gil Alfafara of Cignal and Greg Dolor of Instituto Estetico Manila.
Reigning NCAA MVP Johnvic de Guzman will serve as team captain of this squad that also has Relan Taneo, Geuel Asia, Bryan Bagunas, Alden Dave Cabaron, Reyson Fuentes, Bonjomar Castel, Hershel Ramos, Jack Kalingking, Eduard Carascal and Peter John Quiel.
Sammy Acaylar of Sta. Lucia Realty will serve as mentor.
“We want to extend our gratitude to the two club leagues in the country, the PSL and the PVL, for staying behind us in this noble mission,” said Cayco, who was tasked by the federation to run the national team program.
“We hope that this great cooperation between the federation and its stakeholders would lead to an ultimate success in the international arena, starting with the Southeast Asian Games this August.”
Training of both the men’s and women’s teams are already in full swing every morning at the Arellano School of Law gymnasium.