PVL tasked to form national volleyball squad, says source

MANILA, Philippines – A national women’s volleyball team revamp is looming as the Premier Volleyball League is reportedly being assigned the responsibility of taking charge in the formation of the Philippine squads.

PVL’s appointment will officially come right after the election of officers of the new volleyball association on Monday at the East Ocean Seafood Restaurant in Paranaque.

And the first order of business is to retain the men’s coaching staff under Dante Alinsunurin, who steered his team to a historic silver-medal finish in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, and find a successor to Shaq delos Santos, who fell short in its bronze bid and wound up fourth in the women’s side.

The Beach Volleyball Republic headed by founder Charo Soriano, meanwhile, will handle the national beach volley teams, which pocketed a pair of SEAG bronzes in Subic.

“The PVL and BVR groups will take care of the national teams,” a source told The STAR. “Definitely in the men’s, they will have the same coaching staff but for the women’s, we still have to identify who will be available.

“For sure, the coaches (of women’s team) will be replaced,” the same source added.

And since the PVL will be handling it, there is a chance one of its own like Creamline’s Tai Bundit and Choco Mucho’s Oliver Almadro or both will handle the squad.

“Of course, the group will get the best and most probably the players that can be use not only for this year’s Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam but also for the next two SEAG in 2023 and 2025 and other Asian tournaments. It will be a mixture of young and experienced players,” said the insider.