THE Shakey’s Super League (SSL) will ride the momentum generated by the highly-successful Collegiate Pre-Season Championship when it stages the National Invitationals in July.
“Our next tournament is truly a national championship,” said Philip Ella Juico, chairman of the Athletic Events and Sports Management Inc. (ACES), which oversees the conduct of the SSL.
Juico announced in Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex that 12 teams from all over the country will vie in the next SSL offering.
“These are teams from Luzon, including the UAAP [University Athletic Association of the Philippines] and NCAA [National Collegiate Athletic Association], and those from the Visayas and Mindanao,” said Juico, a former chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission. “It’s a short tournament, a one-week tournament.”
Also gracing the forum were ACES president Dr. Ian Laurel and National University’s (NU) key players Alyssa Solomon and Michaela Belen and coach Karl Dimaculangan barely two days after they swept the Collegiate Pre-Season Championship.
Laurel said that the SSL will continue its vision of developing new talents and giving those from other parts of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, players who work as hard as the others, the chance to showcase their talent.
“We want to give the teams from the Visayas and Mindanao the chance to face the players whom they idolize and provide them a high level of competition,” Laurel the the forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Milo, Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
Laurel said for the National Invitationals, the top three teams from both the UAAP and NCAA will face two teams each from Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.
“We want to showcase the best,” Laurel said.
The Lady Bulldogs are the hottest collegiate team in women’s volleyball, having scored a 16-game sweep of the last UAAP season then an 8-0 sweep of the Pre-Season Championship, both at the expense of La Salle.
This early, they are looking forward to the next UAAP wars in February and the SSL National Invitational Championship in July.
“We’re very excited about this,” said Solomon, who was crowned MVP in the SSL pre-season tournament that drew 18 teams.
Dimaculangan welcomed the new challenge while brushing off suggestions that the Lady Bulldogs are on the way to building a dynasty in collegiate volleyball.
“Every game is a challenge and we do out best each game,” Dimaculangan said. “A dynasty is farthest from our minds.”