EYEING to form a competitive national team for the FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Cup the country will host next year, the Philippine National Volleyball Federation announced over the weekend the tapping of veteran Italian coach Angiolino Frigoni as the new mentor of Alas Pilipinas.

Frigoni, 70, steered the Italian women’s volleyball team to ninth place in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

PNVF president Ramon “Tats” Suzara made the announcement on the sidelines of the Men’s Volleyball Nations League Manila leg at the Mall of Asia Arena, adding the team’s current mentor, Sergio Veloso, has been re-assigned as the head of the federation’s grassroots program.

“Sergio will now be director for junior development, so we are now setting up a junior development program,” Suzara said of the Brazilian coach.

Suzara said Veloso will take the Under-18 and Under-20 men’s and women national squad, noting they will both see action in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Thailand in November.

Veloso will also serve as a scout for the national teams and will be in Cebu to identify promising players who may emerge from the Palarong Pambansa national finals scheduled July 8 to 16 in Cebu City.

As part of the national men’s team buildup, Suzara said he is headed for the US next week where national tryouts will be conducted in Los Angeles.

“After the VNL, we will leave for Los Angeles and we will have a tryout in the US with Filipino-Americans. Just like last year when we had (Steve) Rotter and Ryan Kaa,” he said.

GERMANY sprung a big surprise on Olympic gold medalist France 25-23, 25-27, 25-20, 25-23 yesterday to keep its final round hopes alive in Week 3 of the Volleyball Nations League men’s tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

Five players scored in double digits for the Germans, led by Gyorgi Grozer with 21 points on 18 hits, two aces and a block as they improved to 4-5 and stayed in the race for a top-8 finish and a berth in the final.

Germany, one of the seven teams that have already qualified for the Paris Olympics also next month, forged a tie with eighth-running Cuba in points (12) for the last slot in the final round slated in Poland next week.

Grozer, an ace outside hitter, drew ample support from Moritz Reichert and Lukas Maase with 12 markers each as well as Tobias Krick and Tobias Brand with 10 apiece.

“I believe that we really had an amazing week in Japan (last leg) that led to this performance and our main players are coming back. We’ve been playing without them. I can see that our game is going up,” said coach Michal Winiarski, whose wards went 2-1 in Fukuoka earlier this month to stay afloat after a sluggish start.

BOOSTED by blue-chip additions, the Alas Pilipinas women’s volleyball team is gearing up for a tough battle in the FIVB Women’s Challenger Cup where the country will serve as host.

The Philippines will protect home territory in the meet set from July 4 to 7 at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.

The FIVB Women’s Challenger Cup, which will have Vietnam, Kenya, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Czech Republic, and Belgium, serves as a qualifying tournament for the prestigious Volleyball Nations League.

Led by skipper and veteran playmaker Jia De Guzman, the Alas women spikers will take on Southeast Asian powerhouse Vietnam, winner of last month’s AVC Challenge Cup for Women, which was also held in the country.

“Well, we’re doing our best to prepare well kasi ngayon medyo sure naman po na Vietnam ang makakalaban namin so we’ve seen them play in person in AVC,” De Guzman, who won the Best Setter in the last AVC Challenge Cup, said.

“Araw-araw we’re taking it a day at a time, preparing, taking advantage of iyong preparation namin this time compared to noon before AVC so hopefully, better results din kami,” she added.

The Filipina spikers bolstered their arsenal by adding PVL stars Jema Galanza and Tots Carlos along with collegiate aces Bella Belen and Alyssa Solomon.

“We’re grateful na na-reinforced pa kami lalo kasi we had a very good lineup noong AVC and we’re welcoming every help that we can get,” De Guzman said. “Grabe rin iyong experience noong tatlo and we’re hoping na madagdagan pa kami para in the long run mas malalim pa iyong bench namin.

FANS can expect world-class volleyball anew this week as eight teams clash in the Philippine leg (Week 3) of the Volleyball Nations League men’s tournament starting today, Tuesday, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

Reigning Olympic champion France (world No. 7), fan-favorite Japan (No. 3) and USA (No. 5) headline the cast along with No. 4 Brazil, No. 11 Germany, No. 12 Canada, No. 13 The Netherlands and No. 17 Iran.

The VNL precedes the country’s first solo hosting of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship next year.

“Volleyball has made huge strides in the country in the past few years and we strive to continue to perform,” Ramon “Tats” Suzara, president of the organizing Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF), said in a press conference at the Makati Shangri La Hotel yesterday.

“We strike while the iron is hot and the PNVF is grateful to all those involved, our players who are the stars of the show, to those working behind the scenes from top national and team officials to the referees, to the tireless people in the sub-committees,” Suzara added.

France (No. 4), Japan (No. 5), Brazil (No. 6) and Canada (No. 7) are in the Top 8 of the VNL standings after two legs with reigning world champion Italy, Slovenia and Poland leading the race so far.

Germany, the USA, the Netherlands and Team USA are ranked 11th, 12th, 13th and 16th, respectively — making it an expected fiery action as they aim to climb the ladder going into the homestretch of the preliminary phase.

Team USA, led by 2023 VNL Best Setter Micah Christenson, will mark its Manila debut with high anticipation from local fans.

The Netherlands and Brazil clash at 5 p.m. today followed by the main game between Japan and Canada at 8:30 p.m.

Germany and France take to the court at 3 p.m. before the duel between the USA and Iran at 7 o’clock on Wednesday.

CHERY Tiggo acquired the services of former NCAA MVP Mary Rhose Dapol in their build-up for the PVL Reinforced Conference set for next month.

The Crossovers announced on their social media account the arrival of Dapol, who was named MVP for the Lady Altas in the 98th season.

“(Perpetual) Help is on the way,” Chery Tiggo said. “Time to make the switch from Foton blue to Chery red official as former NCAA MVP Daps Dapol joins the Chery fam.”

The 5-foot-7 outside hitter is no stranger to the PVL wars as she previously played for Chery Tiggo’s defunct sister team, the Foton Tornadoes last year as a special guest player.

Dapol finished as the sixth best scorer with a total of 142 points and tallied a 31.16% spiking success rate for Perpetual last season.

Last Wednesday, Chery Tiggo revealed its import for the upcoming contest, tapping American spiker Katherine Bell.

The 6-foot-2 power-hitting spiker returned to the country after four years, playing from 2018 to 2020 in the defunct Philippine Superliga for the Petron Blaze Spikers.

Meanwhile, PVL had drawn 47 aspirants for the league’s forthcoming inaugural Rookie Draft set on July 8.

From a total of 50 applicants, the list was clipped to 47 with La Salle standouts in middle blocker Thea Gagate, setter Julia Coronel, outside hitter Maicah Larroza, and opposite spike Leila Cruz headlining the historic proceedings.

Two abroad-based Filipinas in Aleiah Torres of Brock University and Nathalie Ramacula of Red River College Polytechnic are also trying to get their luck.

The two-day Draft Combine is set to commence on June 25 to 26 at the Gameville Ballpark in Mandaluyong.

OVERWHELMED after receiving a contract extension, Alas Pilipinas women’s volleyball coach Jorge Souza de Brito and the rest of the squad are aching to buckle down to work as part of their preparations for the FIVB Women’s Challenger Cup set next month.

The Philippine National Volleyball Federation succeeded in its bid to keep Souza de Brito at the helm of the national team until the Southeast Asian Games next year. He guided Alas to a bronze medal finish in the AVC Challenge Cup for Women last month.

“Well, I can tell you that I am very, very happy because I worked for three years here, and our goal is always to win. But that’s a process that you have to go through and when you get these goals, of course you’ll be happy,” De Brito said. “I’m very proud of the players who did that, who helped us as a coaching staff to achieve this.

“Also, I’m really happy because I will be handling them again for the next (tournaments).

I’m sure we are really, really close to getting better. I’m very happy,” he added.

As expectations for the Alas women continue to rise after its first medal in 63 years in any Asian-level tourney, Souza de Brito reiterated that the Nationals should keep improving.

The country is set to stage the Challenger Cup as hosts, making the Alas shoo-ins for the eight-nation tilt.

“The expectations right now are getting higher, but also you have to remain grounded and understand that there’s still a lot of things to do. But you see, we have some vitamins already for winning. Also, with all the support from the fans, they are really excited to join,” De Brito said.

“The guys can’t even wait for the time to start training again. Imagine, with little training (for the AVC Challenge Cup) we already did what we did. So, what if we had more time to train, imagine what we can get. So, the players are really, really excited to join the training starting next week and our tune-up tomorrow. It’s really amazing what a win can do.”

The 57-year-old Olympic champion said he intends to keep the core of the team for the FIVB Challenger Cup while also considering more players to bolster their depth.

PVL champions Diana Mae Carlos and Jema Galanza were added to the Alas pool.

“Of course, we’re also working with the PVL teams, UAAP teams, because we have to balance this. We’re trying to keep the same (core) because I think it’s important. We also need to add more players. Philippine volleyball is much more than these players,” De Brito said.

“I have to congratulate them because we got the goals, but also, I told them already that we’re gonna add some good players also because you know, every time you get more talented players, it’s better for us.

“Internal competitions are always good, so we’ll try to bring other guys, but we’re gonna try to keep the same core because it’s too close, the competition is too close.”