Surplus of Aces excites Alas Skipper Dawn
Alas Pilipinas is deep in its preparations for continental meets this year and although the lineup is yet to be finalized, captain Dawn Macandili-Catindig has high hopes for the new batch that will represent the country.
“The team [we’re building] now is very promising and we’re very happy to have a lot of players coming to join the team,” Macandili-Catindig said on Wednesday night during the PVL Press Corps Awards Night at Novotel Hotel in Quezon City.
“It’s very exciting to see the new additions and slowly build our chemistry,” the defensive ace added ahead of their first tournament, the 2025 Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Women’s Volleyball Nations Cup slated June 7 to June 14 in Vietnam.
Despite being hastily built last year, Alas surprised a lot of people by bringing home two bronze medals highlighted by a historic first-ever podium finish in the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup before bagging another in the Southeast Asian V.League.
Alas took its preparations to another level this year and is making good use of a much longer preparation time in addition to a bigger search radius for players who can help bring the country to greater heights.
Nitura potential
Also returning to the fold are spikers Eya Laure, Cignal’s Vanie Gandler, La Salle’s Angel Canino and three-time UAAP MVP Bella Belen. Alas has also taken interest in Adamson’s Shaina Nitura who has shown a lot of potential after record-breaking performances that hailed her as the UAAP Rookie of the Year.
“I was surprised by Shaina the first time she joined us in training. She really has a powerful spike and jumps so high,” the libero said, before adding in jest, “Good thing we didn’t play at the same time in the UAAP or else it would really be difficult for me.
There is still a shortage of natural opposite hitters for Alas with Capital1’s Leila Cruz being the only one practicing with the Nationals as of the moment. It had the same problem last year, forcing Canino to transition.
Cruz was just supposed to be a practice player before the withdrawal of Akari players Eli Soyud and Faith Nisperos, Creamline’s Tots Carlos and ZUS Coffee’s Chai Troncoso moved up the candidates list.
