THE explosive scoring trio of Bella Belen, Angel Canino, and national team debutant Shaina Nitura will headline this year’s Alas Pilipinas squad for the AVC Women’s Volleyball Nations Cup.
Jorge Souza de Brito’s 16-strong roster parades an dynamic mix of youth, with three former UAAP super rookies being featured, and experience brought by 10 holdovers from last year’s national team pool, as first confirmed to SPIN.ph.
Completing the nationals’ stacked frontline are returnees Eya Laure and Cignal’s Vanie Gandler along with two-time UAAP best opposite spiker Alyssa Solomon and Capital1’s Leila Cruz.
‘Kapitana’ Jia de Guzman returns to lead the national team and the playmaking front, together with Galeries Tower’s Julia Coronel and two-time UAAP best setter Lams Lamina.
Co-captain Dawn Macandili-Catindig of Cignal and Chery Tiggo libero Jen Nierva will still be Alas’ one-two punch on floor defense.
Meanwhile, the four-woman wall to lead the nationals’ net defense features PVL Rookie of the Year Thea Gagate, Akari’s Fifi Sharma, High Speed Hitter Dell Palomata, and incoming Far Eastern University sophomore Cla Loresco.
The Nations Cup will be the first of a series of competitions for Alas ahead of its long-awaited medal bid in the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Thailand this December.
In June alone, the nationals will compete in two Vietnam-hosted tournaments starting with the Nations Cup where they were drawn in Pool B with Mongolia (June 7), Indonesia (June 8), Iran (June 9), New Zealand (June 11), and Kazakhstan (June 12).
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