JIA de Guzman played her first game back in the Philippines — not for her Premier Volleyball League (PVL) club Creamline but for Alas Pilipinas as captain of the hastily-formed yet star-studded women’s national team.
Needing to bring an eclectic assemblage of young college stars and established pro aces to work together in so short a time, de Guzman brought an abundance of wisdom and experience from a victorious overseas debut in Japan back home.
READ: Alas Pilipinas dominates Aussies in confident AVC Challenge Cup debut
After a winning start to their 2024 AVC Challenge Cup for Women campaign over Australia, de Guzman’s ‘golden’ playmaking reflected not only on the scoresheets with four Alas stars in double figures but also made a strong imprint on coach Jorge Souza de Brito and the 4,945 fans at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum on Thursday.
From de Brito’s point of view, de Guzman is the ‘best setter’ there is and always will be in more ways than one.
“Everybody in this gym, also the opponents know that she's (Jia de Guzman) the best setter. She's one of the best setters we have. She already played outside the country and she's been leading one team, winning and winning for years, so she has this capacity to lead some young guys,” de Brito said of de Guzman.
“The guys receive for her, the guys block for her, so it's quite easy to play with her because she has the skills. The guys helped and we played as a team,” she added.
The eight-time PVL best setter, however, wasn’t one to attribute the win to her gritty playmaking alone as she expressed her pride on how Alas overcame a ‘brave’ Aussie side despite the limited preparation time.
“It wouldn’t have been easy for me to distribute the ball as I did if hindi pumasa nang maayos ang teammates ko, so I have to give credit to the floor defense and the net defense of the team kasi we are trying to stick to a system talaga para maging madali ang buhay namin especially going against Australia na matapang talaga maglaro and malaki sa net,” said de Guzman.
“It wasn't just me, it was a total team effort talaga. I can't do everything by myself so leadershipwise, it's not just me, Dawn, and the seniors. It's everyone inside the court […] knowing especially that we didn't have a lot of preparation coming here today.
“Going to this game (against Australia), sabi namin na regardless of what happens, as long as we leave our best on the floor, okay kami sa kung ano man ang result. Thankfully, the win went our way," she added.
It wasn’t all easy going for Alas after conceding the first set through a late 7-1 Australia run and struggling with late-game faults before closing the match out in four.
The latter, in particular, is what de Guzman sees as one area of Alas’ game that still needs fine-tuning the rest of the way.
“It was the endgame that was a problem for us — something that we kind of expected kasi ito pa lang technically ang first scrimmage, game situation na naranasan namin. That's something we have to build over time,” de Guzman said.
Alas' stamp of approval
For Alas' leading scorers on opening day in Angel Canino and Eya Laure, who fired 17 points apiece in the win, to have a playmaker of 'the' Jia de Guzman's caliber has been nothing short of being both an honor and a privilege, more so in the fight for flag and country.
“Natutuwa ako and sobrang nakakakilig din talaga sa feeling na pinag-seset-an ka ng ‘the’ Jia de Guzman. Na-experience ko ‘yung first game with her and natutuwa ako kasi pinu-push niya talagang magka-connection sa amin (sa team) at sa isa’t isa,” Canino said.
Laure added: "Sobrang saya kasi after 2019, ito na lang ata 'yung pagkakataon na maka-teammate ko si ate Jia (de Guzman). Lagi namang isang karangalan na maka-teammate siya and 'yung experience (na dala niya) and 'yung tiwala, talagang kita ko rin kaya sobrang thankful ako."
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