THE next wave of high school volleyball talent takes center stage as the 2026 Shakey’s Super League (SSL) Juniors National Invitationals fires off on Saturday at the Playtime FilOil Centre in San Juan, with University of Santo Tomas leading a field that now stretches beyond Philippine shores.
The Junior Golden Tigresses collide with Arellano University High School at 1 p.m. in the curtain-raiser of the week-long meet, which features seven teams, including entries from Guam and the United States.
Pacific Volleyball Academy of Guam opens its campaign against Pusong Azul before St. John’s Institute squares off with One La Salle. The Guam-based squad then returns in the evening for a second assignment against Arellano.
Tiger power
Much of the spotlight, however, falls on UST, which begins life after its championship-winning core.
The Junior Golden Tigresses ruled the Shakey’s Girls Volleyball Invitational League (GVIL) Rising Stars Cup Division 1 just three months ago, but several of the key pieces behind that breakthrough title, including Most Valuable Player Kim Rubin, have since moved up to the collegiate ranks.
That leaves coach Kungfu Reyes with a fresh cast headlined by setter Andreaj Tan Chun Bing, Nicole Pelaez, Eliz Menchavez and libero Chas Pepito.
Rather than immediate results, the España-based squad is using the tournament to accelerate the growth of its new generation.
“Our lineup right now is different from that of the SGVIL. Almost three-fourths of our team in this Invitational are new players. Most are just incoming Grade 11,” said UST assistant coach Yani Fernandez.
“Here in the Invitationals we want to see how our new players will react to competition and how they adapt to our system.”
The tournament also marks another step in organizers’ push to expose local teams to different styles of play through international participation.
California’s Perfect Set Dream Makers joins the tournament on Monday with back-to-back matches against One La Salle and UST.
“Our goal here is really to see how our local teams compete with international teams and for those international teams to see how we organize tournaments like these,” said Athletic Events and Sports Management, Inc. president Dr. Ian Laurel.
“We want a long-term goal of sharing the same vision with other countries and strengthening the local volleyball program at this level.”
The seven teams will play a single round-robin schedule, with only the top four advancing to the semifinals. Both the bronze medal match and championship will be decided in winner-take-all contests.
Preliminary games will use a best-of-three format before shifting to best-of-five in the semifinals and finals.
Shortly after, the collegiate division of the SSL National Invitationals set to open on July 19 featuring Ho Chi Minh Volleyball Club of Vietnam, Southern Storm Melbourne of Australia, Enderun Colleges, UST, Letran College, and College of Saint Benilde.
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