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Army Soldier Jovelyn Gonzaga. – PVL FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Jovelyn Gonzaga will skip the 2023 Premier Volleyball League Conference as the Army Lady Troopers parade a new coach, Randy Fallorina.
Philippine National Volleyball Federation National Team Commission Chairman Tonyboy Liao confirmed that the star opposite spiker will focus on the formation of the women’s beach volleyball squad for the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia in May.
“They are preparing for the Cambodian SEA Games playing Beach Volleyball,” Liao told Inquirer Sports in a message.
Gonzaga skips its second season-opening tournament with Army. She also focused on last year’s SEA Games campaign, winning a bronze medal with partner Dij Rodriguez and teammates Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The 31-year-old hitter, nicknamed Bionic Ilongga, joined Rondina in managing 2022 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures in Subic last December.
Gonzaga and Rondina as well as Rodriguez and Jen Eslapor will hold a training camp in Batangas before flying to Japan to train from February to March at the Toyota Center in Hekinan City in Aichi Prefecture.
Gonzaga is struggling in the 2022 Reinforced Conference because they are not part of the top 50 scorers in eliminations while the Lady Troopers are winless in eight games.
Without Gonzaga, Army will rely on Honey Royse Tubino and Jeanette Villareal, who led the team in the previous tournament.
CHANGE COACHING
Liao also confirmed reports that KungFu Reyes and his deputy Rico De Guzman are no longer calling for the army.
Fallorina, who played for the Troopers in the Spikers’ Turf last year, will try to lift the Army women’s volleyball team out of the Reinforced Conference without a win.
The player-turned-coach will coach the Lady Troopers, who had no major roster changes in the offseason. Audrey Paran, Ivy Perez, Nene Bautista, Lut Malaluan, Angela Nunag, and Tin Agno are the team champions competing in All Filipino starting February 4.
Fallorina will also have a shot for Army in the 2023 Turf Spikers starting Sunday.
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