VOLLEYBALL: PHILIPPINE LINE UP FOR THE SEA GRAND PRIX REVEALED

The Philippine Team pool for the Southeast Asian Grand Prix has been announced by the Larong Volleyball ng Pilipinas Inc. (LVPI). The team will be composed of a mixture of veterans and young talents both from the 2 semi-professional leagues - Pilipinas Superliga and Philippine Volleyball League.

The team is composed of the following players:

Kath Arado - Generika Ayala
Majoy Baron - F2 Logistics
Roselyn Doria - Dignal HD
Jovelyn Gonzaga - Pacific Town Army / Cignal HD
Eya Laure - Foton Tornadoes
Dawn Macandili - F2 Logistics
Maddie Madayag - Choco Mucho
Aiza Maizo-Pontillas - Petron
Aby Marano - F2 Logistics
Kalei Mau - F2 Logistics
Ces Molina - Petron
Jia Morado - Creamline
Mylene Paat - Cignal HD
Alohi Rpbins-Hardy - Cignal HD
Iris Tolenada - Motolite
Alyssa Valdez - Creamline

The team will depart for Thailand for a training camp on September 7 and competition will start on September 20 in Bangkok.

UP FIGHT : UP WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL TEAM ROSTER IN PVL COLLEGIATE CONFERENCE REVEALED

The roster of the University of the Philippines Lady Maroons Volleyball Team in the upcoming Premiere Volleyball League Collegiate Conference has been revealed.

The team which will still be coached by Coach Jerry Yee will be a mix of the UP volleyball team core and new blood, including new recruits and high school student commits, some of whom also played last season. The team will still be led by team captain Tots Carlos.

The roster for this tournament is as follows:

Here's your @UPWVT lineup for the PVL Collegiate Conference! #UPFight ❤️✊🏻 (c)abscbns+a pic.twitter.com/Ti3MDVjYjf

— UP Volleyball (@UPBalibol) August 29, 2017

New faces are US recruit Cynthia Escutin and new libero Josetti Thai. High school commit Roselyn Rossier and comebacking Vina Alinas will also play.

UP will be in Group B together with Arellano, TIP, San Beda, Adamson and Benilde. The initial UP schedule is as follows:

Sept 4 6:30pm - vs Adamson
Sept 11 4:00pm - vs TIP
Sept 18 4:00pm - vs CSB
Sept 23 4:00pm - vs San Beda
Sept 30 1:00pm - vs Arellano

All games will be played at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.

Good Luch UP Lady Maroons! #UPFight

AVC WOMEN'S SENIOR VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP : PHILIPPINES BEATS VIETNAM IN 4 SETS

In their last game in the second round of the AVC Women's Senior Volleyball Championship, the hosts Philippines just beat one of the Southeast Asian greats Vietnam in a 4 set thriller at the Alonte Sports Arena in Binan, Laguna.

The Philippines has to come from behind to win the first two sets, 27-25 and 26-24. The third set was handily won by Vietnam, building a commanding lead early in the set, which ended at 17-25. The fourth set was not even a close one. The Philippines lead almost the whole set, building as much as a 6 point lead. In the end, a combination play for Alyssa Valdez ended the match. Here is the match point of Valdez as posted in the ABS-CBN Sports Twitter page:

.@kimfajardo9 to @AlyssaValdez2 FOR THE WIN! #AVCWomensSCH pic.twitter.com/o0sgVIzDal

— ABS-CBN Sports (@abscbnsports) August 14, 2017

Valdez top scored the Philippines with 20 points and Jaja Santiago added 19 markers. It is also good to note that we also had superb floor defense from Dawn Macandili and blocks from Aby Marano.

If this is a good gauge for the upcoming Southeast Asian Games, we really have a good chance in getting a podium finish this year after 12 years since we last won the bronze from the regional meet when we last hosted the games in 2005.

The Philippines will next meet another Southeast Asian volleyball giant Thailand in the quarterfinals tomorrow night.

Big congratulations to the Philippine girls!

TEAM PILIPINAS: 3 GREAT WINS FOR A GREAT SPORTS NIGHT

Good things indeed come in threes.

Filipino sports fans was in for a treat tonight - with not one, not two but three great wins tonight from 3 different Philippine teams in 3 different sports.

The first win was scored by the Philippine National Women's Volleyball team when they sweep their first group match versus Hong Kong in the AVC Senior Women's Volleyball Championship at the Alonte Sports Arena in Binan, Laguna. The Filipinas had a tentative start but never looked back once they got the momentum. They beat the HK ladies via a 25-21, 25-16, 25-17 tally.

FINAL: PHI starts strong, sweeps HK, 25-21, 25-16, 25-17.

Catch #AVCWomensSCH: Philippines🇵🇭 vs Hong Kong🇭🇰 NOW AIRING on S+A! pic.twitter.com/8mJgoeGIuF

— ABS-CBN Sports (@abscbnsports) August 9, 2017

The team was led by Alyssa Valdez with 14 points and Jaja Santiago with 13 points. The next assignment of the girls will be Kazakhstan on Friday.

The next win was from Gilas Pilipinas who also opened their campaign in the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup in Beirut, Lebanon. In their first group stage match, they were able to get an upset win over defending champion China, 96-87.

The Philippines 🇵🇭 fight off a big comeback from China 🇨🇳 to open their #FIBAAsiaCup2017 campaign

📊 https://t.co/zbXwbsAnpH pic.twitter.com/t3GUKM644w

— FIBA (@FIBA) August 9, 2017

Gilas led most of the game, with China almost pulling off their come from behind surge in the fourth quarter, even getting the lead in the last quarter. But Gilas was able to hold on and was able to clinch the win. Terrence Romeo topscorred with 26 points, Japeth Aguilar has 5 blocked shots and Gabe Norwood coming up with 3 steals and 3 blocks. Here are the highlights of the game from FIBA's official YouTube channel:

Next game will be against WABA dark horse Iraq on Friday night.

To cap off this streak, PFL's Ceres Negros FC was declared as the ASEAN Zone Champion at the 2017 AFC Cup in front of their home crowd in Bacolod City.  Ceres Negros won over Home United FC at Bacolod with a score of 2-0 and a 3-2 win on aggregate. OJ Porteria started with an early goal at 2' time. The second goal was from a penalty kick from Manny Ott.

👑 Congratulations to the #AFCCup2017 ASEAN Zone champions @CeresNegrosFC! pic.twitter.com/HmP46npXMD

— AFC Cup (@AFCCup) August 9, 2017

This is the farthest a Filipino team got to since the start of the tournament. They will face FC Istikol on August 22.

Congrats to all the Filipino atheletes! #LabanPilipinas

AVC SENIOR WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP : MATCH AND TELECST SCHEDULE

The Philippine National Women's Volleyball Team will wrap up its preparation for the 2017 Southeast Asian Games by participating in the 2017 AVC Senior Women's Volleyball Championship. The tournament will be held here in the Philippines, at the Alonte Sports Arena in Binan, Laguna and Muntinlupa Sports Complex on August 9 to 17, 2017.

The Philippines is in Group A together with Hong Kong and Kazakhstan. Pool B is composed of powerhouses China, Japan and Australia; while Group C is formed by South Korea, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Lastly, Thailand, Chinese Taipei, Iran and Maldives is pooled in Group D.

The Philippine team is formed by the following athletes which is still fresh from their 17 day training camp in Japan and is coached by Francis Vicente:

Kim Fajardo
Jaja Santiago
Mika Reyes
Jovelyn Gonzaga
Alyssa Valdez
Denden Lazaro
Rhea Dimaculangan
Mika Ortiz
Gen Casugod
Aby Marano
Aiza Maizo-Pontillas
Ces Molina
Kim Dy
Dawn Macandali

Here is the tournament schedule:

Telecast schedule for the group stage to be shown at ABS-CBN Sports + Action is as follows:

August 9 - 12:30pm (Live) - Chinese Taipei vs Iran
August 9 - 6:30pm (Delayed) - Opening Ceremonies / Hong Kong vs Philippines
August 9 - 11:30pm (Delayed) - Thailand vs Maldives
August 10 - 12:30pm (Live) - China vs Japan
August 10 - 6:30pm (Delayed) - Kazakhstan vs Hong Kong
August 10 - 8:30pm (Delayed) - Thailand vs Iran
August 11 - 6:30pm (Delayed) - Philippines vs Kazakhstan
August 11 - 8:30pm (Delayed) - Thailand vs Chinese Taipei

Hope everyone supports the team. Good Luck girls!

UP VOLLEYBALL : THANK YOU SUPER SENIORS

Even though we fell short of the goal,

We know you four gave your all.

You showed that from the bottom,

We can go nowhere but to the top.

For proving that we never give up,

For always working hard,

For getting the points when we needed it,

Thank you, UP Super Seniors.

You gave us hope that someday we can win,

For bringing us to the Final Four last year,

For bringing the UP community back to the games.

You definitely made your mark.

Even if we lost our last game,

Fell short of going back to semis,

Hold your head up high,

For us, you are still heroes.

Thank you Kathy, Nicole, Pia and Alfred!

Thank you UP Super Seniors!

#UPFight

Thank you, Kathy, Nicole, Pia and Alfred. Padayon!#UPFight! #GitingXTapang #nowheretogobutUP pic.twitter.com/ZzX4qNqdwM

— nowheretogobutUP (@ntgbUP) April 5, 2017

Tweet from the nowheretogobutUP Twitter page

2016 FIVB VOLLEYBALL WOMEN'S CLUB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP : CES MOLINA AND MIKA REYES GETS LAST TWO GOLDEN TICKETS

Petron volleybelle Ces Molina and F2 Logistics and former Green Archer middle blocker Mika Reyes received the last 2 golden tickets and completes the line up of 7 local Pilipinas Super Liga players that will be included in the Philippine Team in the upcoming 2016 FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship.

Molina was a surprise addition to the team as her name was not as commomnly included in some of the sportswriters and fans wish list. This spiker from Nueva Ecija and a former San Beda Red Lion from NCAA is a reliable attacker of Petron. She will definitely contribute to the team in this aspect but we still need to see how her skills measure up with much taller blockers that are playing in the tournament. She is also part of the Petron team that competed in the Asian Club championship earlier this year. Her inclusion to the team was announced last July 24.

The sixth player to get the golden ticket is Ces Molina. @spinph @SuperLigaPH #PSLBlockbusterRematch pic.twitter.com/xzRSmkvJDo

— Mei-Lin Lozada (@meilinspin) July 24, 2016

The last golden ticket recipient was announced last July 28 when the league was in Batangas. The includion of Reyes, who is a reliable middle blocker and has been a consistent block points provider to her team, is no surprise to many. She was also named as the league's ambassador, replacing her F2 Logistics teammate Cha Cruz.

Mika Reyes gets the last Golden Ticket! @SuperLigaPH @PhilippineStar pic.twitter.com/0htBTEtmrU

— Joey Villar (@JoeySVillar) July 28, 2016

The local players are now complete - Rachel Ann Daquiz, Jovelyn Gonzaga, Kim Fajardo, Jen Reyes, Jaja Santiago, Molina and Reyes. They will be joined by 7 other imports who are still to be named.

The tournament will be held here in the Philippines on October 18 to 23, 2016 at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Congrats Ces and Mika!

2016 FIVB VOLLEYBALL WOMEN'S CLUB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP : JAJA SANTIAGO EARNS FIFTH GOLDEN TICKET

National University stand out Jaja Santiago has earned the 5th golden ticket to participate and represent the Philippines in the 2016 FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship to be held here in Manila.

This was announced during the press conference introducing the team of Foton Philippines that will participate in the AVC Asian Women's Club Championship in Laguna on September.

Santiago is currently playing under Foton club team in Pilipinas Super Liga and is still playing for National University in the UAAP. She is a reliable middle blocker but has been seen training and playing as a spiker in the past few games. She previously turned down the offer of UCLA and choose to play her collegiate games locally with NU.

It is also rumored that several scouts are in town to watch Jaja in her games and possibly invite her to their foreign clubs. Jaja has also represented the Philippines in the 2014 Asian U23 Championship in Manila and the 2015 Southeast Asian Games in Singapore.

Here is a post from the Twitter account of Sports5 regarding the announcement :

We have a very special announcement! Jaja Santiago receives the 5th Golden Ticket! pic.twitter.com/yKTJDp1pkP

— Sports5 (@Sports5PH) July 22, 2016

She now joins Rachel Ann Daquiz, Jovelyn Gonzaga, Kim Fajardo and Jen Reyes in the PSL All Star Team. We are just waiting for 2 more names of local players whch will play together with 7 imports during the FIVB tournament.

Congratulations Jaja!

2016 FIVB VOLLEYBALL WOMEN'S CLUB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP : 8 PARTICIPATING TEAMS NAMED

The 8 teams that will participate in the 2016 FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship has all been named after the last wildcard team was awarded the wildcard ticket.

The competition is slated to be held on October 18 - 23 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. This will be the first time that the Philippines will host the said tournament, and with the country hosting, we were allotted one slot in the competition.

Our team will be composed of 7 imports and 7 local players - which will be from the pool of the invited players currently participating in the Pilipinas Super Liga. The names of the seven local players that will be included will be revealed starting tomorrow during the league's game.

The other teams participating are (posts from the facebook pages of PVR : Philippine Volleyball Republic, and FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship)

1. 2016 European Champions - Pomi Casalmaggiore of Italy

2. 2015 Asian Champions - Bangkok Glass of Thailand

3. 2016 South American champions - Rexona Ades Rio of Brazil

4.  Wildcard - 2015 Champions Eczacıbaşı VitrA Voleybol of Turkey

5. Wildcard - Volero Zurich of Switzerland

6. Wildcard - VakıfBank Spor Kulübü of Turkey

7. Wildcard - Hisamitsu Springs of Japan

8. Hosts - PSL Team (7 locals and 7 imports)

The tournament will be a sure treat to all Filipino volleyball fans. It has been about 16 years since we last hosted a major FIVB tournament and it is about time since the sports is definitely getting a huge boost in popularity.

2015 SOUTHEAST ASIAN GAMES : PHILIPPINE VOLLEYBALL TEAM RECOGNIZED DURING THE SHAKEYS V-LEAGUE FINALS

The members of the Philippine Volleyball National Team for the 2015 Southeast Asian Games was called and recognized during the finals of the Open Conference of Shakey's V-League. All 13 members of the team was present and were called out before the awarding ceremonies where PLDT got the championship after winning over Army.

Here is a glimpse of the national team from Tiebraker Times Twitter account :

#LabanPilipinas PH WVT SEA Games team present earlier. pic.twitter.com/HqVziijpeU

— Tiebreaker Times (@TiebreakerTimes) May 31, 2015

The team will join other athletes during the opening ceremonies on June 5, where Alyssa Valdez will be the flag bearer, and will start their quest for a medal after a decade long absence on June 10.

Here is a promo released by Sports5 in their YouTube channel:

The team will start their campaign on June 10, their schedule is as follows:

June 10 - vs Indonesia (12pm)
June 11 - vs Malaysia (10am)
June 13 - vs Vietnam (10am)

Semifinal matches will be played on June 14 and the finals on June 15.

Wishing good luck to Team Philippines and I am hoping that everyone will cheer for them, politics aside.

SEA GAMES 2015 : PHILIPPINE WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL TEAM LINE UP ANNOUNCED

The final line up for the Philippine Women's Volleyball Team for the 2015 Southeast Asian Games in Singapore next month was announced by Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. last Friday.

Amidst controversy on the volleyball federation, players attendance and schedule conflicts, the final 12 girls who will carry the flag are the following :

1. Daquis, Rachel Ann
2. de Leon, Bea
3. Dimaculangan, Rhea
4. Gonzaga, Jovelyn
5. Lazaro, Denden
6. Marano, Abby
7. Morado, Jia
8. Ortiz, Maika
9. Santiago, Jaja
10. Santiago - Manabat, Dindin
11. Soltones, Gretchel
12. Valdez Alyssa

Aiza Maizo, who was the last person cut from the roster, will serve as a reserve player and assistant coach. The team will be mentored by Coach Roger Gorayeb and Coach Tai Bundit as his assistant.

Alyssa Valdez will also serve as the flag bearer of Team Pilipinas in the opening ceremonies on June 4, 2015.

Before the announcement, Gorayeb expressed his dismay on the poor attendance of the players in last Wednesday's practice, where the official line up was set to be announced. After the announcement, the players was in full force for the first time:

Perfect attendance brightens mood as PH team buckles down to work By @meilinspin http://t.co/Ru2PB2LZRQ via @spinph pic.twitter.com/JpC1zk059b

— SPIN.ph (@spinph) May 22, 2015

Hope this girls exceed their target of a bronze medal after being absent in the SEA Games for a decade. The last time that we participated was in the 2005 Manila SEA Games where we got the bronze. The last time we got the gold was more than 20 years ago.

Good luck Team Pilipinas!

Image is from the 2015 SEA Games website and the tweet is from the Spin.ph official Twitter account

AVC UNDER 23 WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP : TEAM PHILIPPINES GETS 7TH PLACE

Team Philippines finished their campaign with a win and gets 7th place amongst 12 countries in the first staging of the Asian Volleyball Confederation Under-23 Women's Champonship at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

Bannered by the top collegiate volleybelles in the UAAP and NCAA, this is the first team that competed internationally in almost a decade. The last one was during the 2005 Southeast Asian Games in Manila where the team placed 3rd.

Team Philippines got a sweet revenge from their first group stage loss to Iran and beat them in the classification rounds in straight sets: 25-15, 25-21 and 26-24.

With this win, Team Philippines officially announces that we are back in the international stage. Considering that the team is only formed 3 weeks before the start of the tournament and has been turned down by some of the players that were invited, this is a good performance from a team with very minimal international experience.

Team Philippines were represented by top volleybelles Alyssa Valdez, Jaja Santiago, Jia Morado, Gretchen Soltones, Myla Pablo, Risa Sato, Bea de Leon, Riri Meneses, EJ Laure, Ella de Jesus, Jhoanna Maraguinot and Tin Agno. The team is coached by Roger Gorayeb and assisted by Tai Bundit.

It will be a busy month for volleyball. The Under 23 Men's Team will be competing next in Myanmar starting May 12, followed by the Asian Seniors Women's Championship in China this month. The men's and women's seniors team will also participate in the SEA Games in Singapore in June.

Pic is from the Volleyball PH Photo Album Facebook Page