MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine National Volleyball Federation on Thursday announced it would keep the Alas Pilipinas team that claimed a historic AVC Challenge Cup bronze medal while adding a few more players to the mix to sustain the growth it had recently.
“The intention is to keep this team intact with additional athletes from the college ranks,” said PNVF president Tats Suzara the day after the Filipinas routed Australia at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum to claim the country’s first podium finish in any Asian level tournament.
“It’s a breakthrough, it’s historic, and the obvious next step is to keep this team intact and make it stronger and much more competitive,” he added.
Suzara said they are planning to insert collegiate stars Bella Belen, Alyssa Solomon and Casiey Dongallo into the pool to further beef an already promising roster headed by AVC Challenge Cup best setter Jia de Guzman and best outside spiker Angel Canino.
There is also the plan of extending Brazilian coach Jorge Souza de Brito, whose contract expires next month.
De Brito has yet to decide if he will heed the call.
If all this falls into place, Suzara said there’s a strong chance the country can compete for a medal in next year’s Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.
“Next year, in the SEA Games, I believe we’ll have a very strong fighting chance,” he said.