Alas Pilipinas women begin rebuild after core players beg off

FILE– Alas Pilipinas during a game against Indonesia in the SEA Games 2025 volleyball women’s volleyball bronze medal match. –POC POOL PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) has started to pick up the pieces to rebuild the Alas Pilipinas women’s program after losing its previous core members ahead of the AVC Women’s Cup from June 6 to 14 in Candon City.

On Wednesday, PNVF president Tonyboy Liao revealed that former key members have all begged off from joining the latest iteration of the national team pool of coach Tai Bundit.

READ: Jia De Guzman, other core players skip Alas Pilipinas duties

The players include team captain and two-time AVC Women’s Cup Best Setter Jia De Guzman, Bella Belen, Maddie Madayag, Vanie Gandler, Justine Jazareno, Eya Laure, Alleiah Malaluan, and Mars Alba, who played in last year’s Southeast Asian Games.

Liao also said that Alyssa Solomon, who played for Osaka Marvelous in the Japan SV.League, also passed for this year, but said she will play next.  Reigning UAAP MVP Shaina Nitura was willing to join, but she’s still recovering from an injury.

But other players from the PVL, UAAP, and NCAA have shown interest in joining training with the pool starting on Monday.

“Definitely, we’ll still be adding players because right now we only have around 11 to 12 in the pool. The plan is really to build a lineup of about 20 to 25 players. We’ll talk more with the coaches and Coach Tai about it,” said Liao. “Most of the university players he invited are already here, except for the La Salle players, which is understandable. If we’re talking about replacing around 12 to 14 players, then we really need to look for replacements. We’ll check the PVL lineups to see who we can tap, including free agents who currently don’t have teams.”

PNVF president Tonyboy Liao says the previous Alas Pilipinas core has begged off to play in the AVC Women’s Cup in Candon and other tournaments this year. | @LanceAgcaoilINQ pic.twitter.com/APgzw3iS8s

— INQUIRER Sports (@inquirersports) May 13, 2026

Meanwhile,  Liao revealed to Inquirer that Strong Group Athletics owner Frank Lao has committed his players and coaches from Farm Fresh and ZUS Coffee, as well as the collegiate squads he supports, namely University of Santo Tomas, University of the Philippines, Letran, and College of Saint Benilde.

“It’s good that he’s willing to help [Philippine] volleyball. We have to start preparing for the 2029 World Championship, especially since his teams have a lot of young players with great potential. They may still be raw right now, but by that time, they’ll already be fully matured,” Liao said.

Strong Group Athletics will also be shouldering the salary of players and coaches from their teams, according to Liao.

Farm Fresh and ZUS Coffee have already pledged their first two rounds in the PVL Draft to the Alas program through the 2029 FIVB World Championship.

Creamline coach Sherwin Meneses, former Cignal coach Shaq Delos Santos, Criss Cross’ assistant coaches Geuel Asia and Krung Arbasto, Adamson’s JP Yude, and Farm Fresh’s Benson Bocboc are all part of Bundit’s coaching staff. One will be named head coach in the interim, with the Thai tactician out for two to three months due to an accident.

Liao is also waiting for an update from La Salle’s Angel Canino, Shevana Laput, and Amie Provido, who are fresh from leading the Lady Spikers to a 16-0 sweep of the UAAP Season 88 women’s volleyball tournament.

The previous Alas core achieved historic feats in the last two AVC Women’s Cups, with its maiden bronze in 2024 at Rizal Memorial Coliseum, and reached the finals last year before losing to three-peat champion and host Vietnam.

De Guzman won two Best Setter awards, while Canino won the Best Opposite in 2024 and emerged as the Best Outside Spiker in 2025.

The group also won four consecutive bronze medals in the SEA V.League, but the podium finish remained elusive in the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand, with another fourth place.