Senior members of the national women’s volleyball pool are tipped to be assigned to Team A when the country competes in the AVC Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championships in Thailand.
According to a Daily Tribune source, Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) officials have already informally discussed the composition of the two teams that they would be sending in the prestigious interclub tournament set from 1 to 7 October.
The source said ranking officials are favoring the deployment of senior players to Team A while the developmental players will be assigned to Team B.
Team A, which is set to carry the colors of the federation’s main sponsor, Rebisco, is stacked in powerhouse Pool B, which is composed of Supreme Chonburi of Thailand, Altay Volleyball Club of Kazakhstan and Saipa of Iran.
Supreme Chonburi is a three-time champion in the Thailand League and Thai-Denmark Super League. It is tipped to parade the nucleus of the Thailand women’s national team like Pleumjit Thinkaow and Sutadta Chuewulim.
Altay, on the other hand, is a six-time champion of the Kazakhstan Volleyball Championship, which has a handful of foreign players in its roster, including former Volero Zurich libero Silvija Popovic of Serbia, while Saipa is the newly-crowned champion of the Iran Women’s Volleyball Super League.
Meanwhile, Team B, which was supposed to be represented by the champion of the Premier Volleyball League, is on a relatively lighter group in Pool A with host Nakhon Ratchasima of Thailand and Zhetyssu of Kazakhstan as foes in the preliminaries.
The source said beefing up Team A with quality talents makes a lot of sense.
“We need to boost our Team A with quality players to make sure that that it would be able to contend against the best teams in the tournament,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity in deference to his fellow PNVF board members.
“This is the federation’s first major indoor tournament. We really want to come up with a good performance. So, if we mix our senior and developmental players in the two teams, we may have a hard time winning.”
If Team A will be powered by senior players, skipper Aby Maraño, Mylene Paat, Dindin Manabat, Kalei Mau, Kim Dy, Ria Meneses, MJ Philips, Tin Tiamzon, Kat Tolentino, Jema Galanza and Iris Tolenada will be there while Team B will be boosted by rising stars like Eya Laure, Ivy Lacsina, Imee Hernandez, Jen Nierva, Bernadette Pepito, Faith Nisperos, Mhicaela Belen and Kamille Cal.
“If this will be the lineup, our Team A will be very competitive while we can give tremendous exposure to our developmental players,” the source said.
But everything is not yet cast in stone.
The source said they will meet virtually on Tuesday to discuss who will compose the two teams together with Brazilian consultant Jorge Edson Souza de Brito and head coach Odjie Mamon. Then, they will submit the rosters to the organizing body on or before 10 September to avoid a $5,000 penalty.
PNVF national team commission chairman Tonyboy Liao backed the source’s claim but stressed that everything is still up in the air and the coaches will still make the final decision.
“The coaches will be the one to assemble the teams. We cannot intervene with the selection process or question their choices,” said Liao, an old hand in Philippine volleyball and commissioner of the PVL.
“They know better. It’s their job.”
The Nationals have already opened their training camp in Batangas in preparation for the Asian Club tilt.
“We will go there on Saturday to check their training, the venue, and their accommodation,” Liao said.
“Maybe, we can also talk about the roster. But let’s see.”