Their time will come

When the Reinforced Conference kicked off though, Gagate wasn’t able to suit up for ZUS Coffee, the team that made her the No. 1 pick overall, along with several standouts—veterans among them—who were on loan to the national program.

That put the spotlight squarely on No. 2 overall selection, Capital1’s Leila Cruz.

Two games into the tournament, Cruz and fellow rookie Roma Mae Doromal, a second-round pick by the Solar Spikers, may not have been spectacular individually, but their contributions were nothing to scoff at: The two neophytes were crucial to Capital1’s biggest franchise win yet—a shutout of defending champion Petro Gazz.

“I’m super happy because I was able to help with our win, and I’m very proud of my teammates,” said Cruz after the 26-24, 25-20, 25-18 victory. “It’s super important to me that I was part of this win.”

Cruz stats were modest, to say the least, especially among those searching for big games from the rookies heralded as the start of the PVL’s journey toward a more competitive league. She had seven points in her debut, a loss to Akari, before coming up with five points and 11 digs in the breakthrough victory over the Angels.

Doromal also showed some promise, handling court-coverage duties for the Solar Spikers. They were the highlights of this year’s batch of rookies.

Late license

For a number of reasons, a large number of the players selected during the inaugural Rookie Draft have yet to see official playing time for their respective teams.

Gagate and Julia Coronel, who was selected third overall by Galeries Tower, are with the national team.

For No. 12 pick Aleiah Torres, it was the late issuance of her Games and Amusements Board (GAB) license that sidelined her during Creamline’s opening game against Farm Fresh.

But even with the green light from GAB, the Filipino-Canadian libero acknowledged the challenge of cracking Creamline’s already formidable 14-player lineup.

“We have a lot of liberos already, and I’m still getting used to all the systems and practices,” said Torres, who joins Kyla Atienza, Denden Lazaro-Revilla and Ella De Jesus as Creamline’s defensive specialists.

“Competing every day is what motivates me to hopefully get into being able to dress and then further being able to be on the court,” she added.

Story the same

Aside from Aleiah Torres, other rookies are also waiting for their names to be included in their team’s lineup. Jenya Torres, a teammate of Cruz and Doromal at Capital1 watched from the sidelines as the Solar Spikers bowed down to the Akari Chargers, 25-18,27-25, 22-25, 25-14.

The rookie was not included in the official line-up of the team for the July 18 game.

“I don’t know yet what coach [Roger Gorayeb] is planning for me,” the young outside hitter said. “But I’m sure he has plans because they picked me. I will just continue to trust my coaches. In any conference, I’m always game.”

Gorayeb said Jenya Torres’s exclusion from the lineup was due to the experience of the other players in the open position.

“We’ve been practcing [together] for a long time,” Gorayeb said.

The story is the same for a lot of players selected in the lower rounds.

Nxled Chameleon rookie Razel Aldea, coach Raffy Mosuela said, has been sidelined by the glut of middle blockers in the team.

“Right now, she’s among our last options,” Mosuela said of the former Perpetual Help standout selected in the second round.

Even Nxled’s first-rounder, Lucille Almonte, failed to crack the rotation after she was listed on the Chameleons’ roster as a service and defense specialist but was not substituted in during the game.

The Highrisers’ newcomers, Dodee Batindaan and Danivah Aying, on the other hand, still need to work on their physical conditioning.

“If she can catch up with the conditioning of the other players, then she can play,” Galeries coach Lerma Giron said of Batindaan.

But even as the rookies try to find their way to the court, or even into their team’s active rosters, they have already made an impact within their teams, one that is not seen in public.

In a sport where only 14 players can stand on the court, competition among players for a spot inside the court cannot be avoided, and the incoming rookies play a role in heating up the battle for playing time.

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Challenging the veterans

Capital1 veteran Arrianne Layug, who is also not part of the current lineup, said the arrival of the young players challenges the old players to perform better.

“That’s healthy because the young players need the experience that the older players have,” Layug said.

The outside hitter said that as of now, the rookies are still adjusting to the system and culture of the team.

Over at ZUS Coffee, the absence of Gagate hardly lessened the intensity of roster spot battles because the Thunderbelles still have a lot of newcomers in their fold: University of the East libero Jenina Zeta, and Adamson University players Sharya Ancheta and Nikka Yandoc.

Team setter and captain Cloanne Mondoñedo said that in every team, it is natural that players must fight for a spot. Mondoñedo herself is new to the pros, only having experienced playing in the PVL as a guest player for Farm Fresh Foxies last year, alongside fellow ZUS Coffee teammates Gayle Pascual, Michelle Gamit and Jade Gentapa.

“You need to show your best [in practice] to get that spot,” the Collegiate Press Corps’ NCAA Women’s Volleyball Player of the Year said after the Thunderbelles’ opening game loss to Petro Gazz.

And as the Reinforced Conference continues, the battle to crack that 14-player lineup will go on as well.

Meanwhile, the coaches continue to hone the young guns. And Gorayeb is glad that his rookies are very coachable, especially Cruz.

“[S]he’s open to good ideas and willing to learn. She’s not the type of player who complains when you correct her. Actually, I don’t even have to scold her. She’s a good kid, very kind. I hope she continues this way,” the veteran coach said.

“There are still many things to learn, like our defense pattern. She’s a bit lost in that area. But she’s willing to learn. It’s just that she’s used to her old style of defense, and now, after taking a break, things have changed. It’s different now,” he added.

It’s too early to judge the overall impact of this year’s inaugural draftees but the teams certainly feel their impact.

It won’t be long before volleyball fans will get to see that as well.