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ALAS UNDER FIRE: PVL teams cold on supporting national team?

‘In the end, it all boils down to discussion. They have to talk to clarify this setup.’

EYA Laure and other PVL players have carried the national team to a historic finish in the AVC Challenge

The Premier Volleyball League (PVL) will be seeking an audience with the leadership of the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) to ensure the availability of the national team players who will see action in major international tournaments.

PVL president Ricky Palou told Daily Tribune that they are ironing out the kinks with the federation as some of their team owners are already getting cold over the idea of lending their players to the national squad.

In fact, the team owners are already making a huge sacrifice as their star players will miss the coming Reinforced Conference after the federation deployed them to the FIVB Challenger Cup in July and the Southeast Asian V. League in August.

Among the players that the federation borrowed for Alas Pilipinas are Jema Galanza and Tots Carlos of Creamline, and Sisi Rondina and Cherry Nunag of Choco Mucho.

Also in the squad are Fifi Sharma and Faith Nisperos of Akari, Eya Laure and Jen Nierva of Chery Tiggo, Vannie Gandler, and Dawn Catindig and Dell Palomata of PLDT with incoming PVL players Thea Gagate and Julia Coronel as well as De La Salle University star Angel Canino, National University stalwart Alyssa Solomon and Japan-based setter Jia de Guzman.

Palou said they don’t have problem lending their players but they have to sit down with the federation to make them aware about the sentiments of the team owners, who are spending for the salaries and bonuses of their players in a bid to win the title in the most prestigious volleyball league in the country.

“That’s what we’re working out with the PNVF because some teams don’t want to lend their players anymore,” Palou said in a telephone interview.

Aside from team owners, also feeling the pinch brought by the looming absence of stars are the coaches.

Choco Mucho coach Dante Alinsunurin admitted that winning their first title in the import-flavored conference will be very challenging should Rondina and Nunag sit out.

They, after all, are already missing the services of injured stars in Kat Tolentino, Desiree Cheng and Aduke Ogunsanya, making it hard for them to come up with a competitive squad should Rondina and Nunag miss the upcoming conference.

“Honestly, we’re having a problem with our players right now because we were already missing (players) before when we played in the championship. Then now, we’ll have two less (players),” Alinsunurin said during the Collegiate Press Corps Awards Night late Monday.

“Now, we’re hoping for free agency and the upcoming draft pick. We’re looking at the possible players we can get or contribute to the upcoming conference.”

The PVL doesn’t have problem with the current setup of lending player to the national squad.

In fact, a Daily Tribune source stressed that the league is glad to have an active role in the formation of the national squad with no less than its chairman in Tonyboy Liao serving also as chairman of the federation’s national team commission.

The source said the absence of key players could even be a blessing in disguise as their bench players will get a chance to compete against taller, stronger imports who are expected to take the league by storm.

Still, it all depends on the team owners.

“Some of them are cooperative, some are not. But the bottom line here is that they have the final say,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“They are the ones who are paying the salaries of these players. They are also the ones who will spend if these players get injured while competing in various international tournaments.”

“In the end, it all boils down to discussion. They have to talk to clarify this setup.”