By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Alas Pilipinas women’s volleyball team skipper Jia De Guzman said they are not putting any pressure on their upcoming mission in the 2024 FIVB Challenger Cup that the country is hosting on July 4 to 7, but they are preparing as hard as they can.
Composed of younger players compared to the previous team compositions, the decorated setter said they know full well they are in for a very dangerous mission but are doing everything they can in bolstering the skills and chemistry of the squad in a tournament where several powerhouse teams are going to showcase the kind of stuff they have.
Among those teams is recently-crowned AVC Challenge Cup champion Vietnam, a team that De Guzman previously faced and beat in the past.
“We need to understand that everyone has to go through this journey as a national team para mag-improve,” said De Guzman, one of the few veterans of the crew.
“Ngayon, we’re striving to retain the same team para maabot din natin kung ano yung naabot ng ibang teams na matagal nang magkakasama,” she added.
Despite being formed a few weeks before the AVC Challenge Cup last month, the Nationals wowed the entire nation and awed their rivals with the firepower and tenacity they showed en route to snaring the historic bronze-medal in the weeklong hostilities.
De Guzman hopes the team will play with the same energy and fighting spirit in their upcoming stint, where they will be up against more experienced teams from Kenya, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Vietnam, Sweden, Czech Republic and Belgium.
The tournament serves as a qualifier for the prestigious FIVB Women’s Volleyball Nations League, where some of the best squads are competing.
“We know our team is young and malalakas yung kalaban namin, so all we can ask the girls to do is to give their best,” said De Guzman.
“Bawat training namin, we strive to improve especially in terms of chemistry. We didn’t have much preparation sa last tournament pero maganda yung resulta so hopefully for this one, maganda din yung mapakita namin,” she added.
She also welcomed the addition of Jema Galanza, Bella Belen and Alyssa Solomon to the pool, giving them more firepower.
“It’s great to have new reinforcements sa pool, to have additional experience sa team. We’re looking forward to future reinforcements,” De Guzman said.
