Arado, a national team mainstay, is still nursing a few injuries.
The Philippine Women’s National Volleyball Team (PWNVT) won’t be having PVL All-Filipino Conference Best Libero Kath Arado in the Southeast Asian Games come May.
Arado, a member of the previous SEA Games squad, begged off from national team duties as she continues to recover from unspecified injuries she suffered in the recently-concluded PVL conference won by the Creamline Cool Smashers.
As reported by the PVL website through Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) national team committee chairman Tony Boy Liao, the women's team will have a very capable replacement in Akari Chargers libero Bang Pineda, who was called up to take the place of Arado. Pineda and Creamline’s Kyla Atienza make up the libero lineup of the squad.
Pineda, who is set to make her national team debut, will join the country’s best volleybelles that include Atienza's teammates in Tots Carlos, Jia De Guzman, Jema Galanza, Celine Domingo, and Michele Gumabao. They will be backstopped by Gel Cayuna and Glaudine Troncoso of the Cignal HD Spikers, Cherry Nunag and Kat Tolentino of the Choco Mucho Flying Titans, Mylene Paat of the Chery Tiggo Crossovers, and Dell Palomata, Arado’s teammate with the PLDT High Speed Hitters. Creamline's Alyssa Valdez is also in the lineup and was recently named team captain, though it remains to be seen if The Phenom will recover just in time to actually play. Additionally, Pineda will have a familiar face guiding her in Jorge Edson Souza de Brito, who is also the coach of Akari in the PVL.
The national team will be leaving for Japan on Thursday to hold a two-week boot camp in preparation for the SEA Games in Cambodia, where the Philippines will try to secure its first women’s volleyball medal since 2005. It will be facing Vietnam, Cambodia, and Singapore in Group B.