THERE won’t be a changing of the guard in Philippine volleyball just yet while the sport’s household names are still suiting up and seeing action.
The earlygoing of the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference saw a handful of welcome resurgences even as up-and-coming talents break into the pros.
READ: Where each team stands as All-Filipino resumes
Here are some of the sports' longest-standing stalwarts who’ve been more than just nostalgic faces, as they continue to spice up the league with their vintage forms and lethal firepower.
ALYSSA VALDEZ (Creamline)
Creamline’s ever-reliable captain isn’t called the ‘Phenom’ for nothing.
One of three remaining pioneer Cool Smashers, Valdez saw the league’s winningest club rise from the ground up and reach the highest of highs in the sport with 10 PVL titles and the sport’s first-ever Grand Slam in 2024.
The 31-year-old dynamo was forced to sit out the last two conferences to recover from previous knee injuries.
She’d make her much-awaited return at the start of the ongoing conference in a masterful season-opening sweep of perennial rival Petro Gazz in Antipolo.
While she continues to rediscover her mojo, Valdez signed off 2024 with a vintage 17-point player of the game performance in just three sets played in Creamline’s five-set escape from ZUS Coffee.
Safe to say, for a serial winner like Valdez, the best is still yet to come.
MYLA PABLO (Petro Gazz)
‘Bagyong Pablo’ has once again taken the league by storm.
After a dismal start to the two-time PVL MVP’s second coming at Petro Gazz, the All-Filipino Conference has so far seen Pablo’s renaissance as one of the sport’s sharpest attackers.
Pablo, 31, normed just one point in her lackluster Angels comeback in last year’s All-Filipino Conference and 1.9 points come the proceeding Reinforced Conference where she was still used sparingly.
In just the first six games of this conference, however, she is already averaging 10.5 points as an emerging fixture in head coach Koji Tsuzurabara’s starting rotation.
She is also the league’s ninth-best spiker midway through prelims play with a 32.18 percent spiking efficiency.
Whether in her natural role as an outside hitter or as an occasional opposite, Pablo has pumped new life to an already-lethal Petro Gazz side that dropped just one set in its last four wins to end 2024.
Armed with a newfound confidence after months of struggle, there’s no weathering this storm anytime soon.
ARA GALANG (Chery Tiggo)
One of the sport’s most decorated stars is on the rise again.
Being the lifeblood of winning programs like La Salle and F2 Logistics is second nature to Galang.
However, it’s been a rather shaky road back to her best shape since the Cargo Movers’ disbandment late in 2023 in which she parted ways with teammates and coaches she stood with from back in her UAAP days.
Just as she enters her first full year with Chery Tiggo, the 29-year-old ace has taken the driver’s seat on offense along with young guns like her fellow UAAP champion spiker Cess Robles.
At 5-foot-7, Galang currently ranks seventh in the league in blocking (0.60 per set) and eighth in scoring (82 points, 13.67 per game).
Her best game yet this conference? A 23-point explosion on 18 attacks, four blocks and an ace in the Crossovers' season-opening five-set win against Capital1.
Just like the old days, ‘Ara G’ is back.
JOVELYN GONZAGA (ZUS Coffee)
Even at age 33, ZUS Coffee’s newest sergeant continues to serve on and off the taraflex.
Gonzaga once took a step back from volleyball to heal and protect her peace after being rammed by injuries back and forth.
But just five games into her indoor volleyball comeback with the young Thunderbelles, it’s as if she never left.
Gonzaga brought veteran leadership and vintage attacking exploits to ZUS Coffee as the team’s second-leading scorer (59 points, 11.8 per game) behind the inaugural PVL Draft’s No. 1 overall pick in Thea Gagate (69 points, 13.8 per game).
She’s also the league’s seventh-best spiker with a 33.33 percent spiking efficiency — the oldest player in the current top 10.
If it still isn’t clear by now, powerhouse players like Gonzaga have proven time and time again that age is truly just a number.
Honorable mention: ELI SOYUD (Akari)
Silent but deadly has been Soyud’s winning approach thus far for Akari.
Hers might not have been as big as the previous names in this list, but this former UAAP champion with La Salle has stood her ground as a timeless scoring weapon ahead of her third year with the Chargers.
Akari’s PVL resurgence wasn’t just fueled by the likes of Ivy Lacsina and Grethcel Soltones, after all.
In fact, Soyud, 29, is the team’s second-leading scorer (11th overall) with 70 total points (11.67 per game) and the league’s eighth-best spiker on 32.22 attacking efficiency.
How about that for an under-the-radar star?
Coming soon: RACHEL DAQUIS (Farm Fresh)
The long wait will soon be over for one of the original faces of Philippine volleyball.
Daquis might be playing for a milk brand in Farm Fresh, but best believe she’s been aging like fine wine on and off the court.
And as per the Foxies’ latest team update, it will only be a matter of time — weeks or days even — before RAD finally ends her year-long hiatus and take center stage in the PVL once more.
The 37-year-old powerhouse will soon be back in action after months of re-conditioning following a productive sabbatical which saw her venture into the baking industry with 'Forn de Manila,' the first Filipino bakery in Barcelona, Spain.
Set to bolster an on-the-rise Farm Fresh side with oncoming team debutants Jolina dela Cruz and Lorene Toring, expect to see more than just glimpses of Daquis’ signature flair and audacious leadership back in the PVL very soon.
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