Phl to skip Asian U-23 women’s volley tilt

MANILA, Philippines -  The Larong Volleyball ng Pilipinas is considering skipping the Asian Women’s Under-23 Championship in Thailand in May to focus on the 29th Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia in August.

LVPI acting president Peter Cayco said their priority is to form the team and undergo a five-month training, including camps in Japan, Korea or China as they gear up for a medal finish in the coming SEAG.

“We may no longer join the U-23 to focus on the SEA Games,” said Cayco, referring to the May 13-21 meet in Nakhon Ratchasima.

“We’ll just join training camps and we are looking at two or three countries outside the Southeast Asian region,” said Cayco.

The Phl, which finished seventh out of 12 teams in the inaugural Asian Women’s U-23 tilt here two years ago, is already bracketed in Pool D of the nine-day event along with Iran, New Zealand and Malaysia.

This came after Cayco announced that LVPI will be holding special tryouts for Ateneo players Marck Espejo, Jia Morado, Maddy Maddayag and Kat Tolentino for the national pool.

Espejo, a multiple UAAP MVP and the best player in the 2015 SEAG in Singapore, and Morado, the lead setter of the Nationals in Singapore, Maddayag and Tolentino failed to get invitations from the LVPI to the recent tryouts.

But Maddayag and Tolentino, for their part, were named to the women’s pool along with 23 others.

Cayco, however, said he will insist the four get a chance to make it to the pool.

“I will talk to them (women’s mentor Francis Vicente and men’s coach Sammy Acaylar). But if I will be the one to decide, I would seed them straight to the team and forego the tryouts,” he said.

The LVPI announced the 25-player women’s pool last week with Alyssa Valdez, Mika Reyes, Jaja Santiago, Rachel Daquis, Kim Fajardo and Myla Pablo heading the roster.