SEAG-bound Alyssa Valdez to sit out remaining games in PVL

MANILA, Philippines— Creamline Cool Smashers star Alyssa Valdez will sit out the remaining matches of her Premier Volleyball League (PVL) club team to focus on her duties for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games-bound national volleyball squad.

The management of Rebisco, the company which Creamline is under, released a statement early Saturday morning, August 5 to inform the public of its decision to rest the former Ateneo De Manila University standout for the remainder of the playoffs.

The statement, which was issued just a few hours before the start of Creamline’s best-of-3 semifinals series against the Bali Pure Water Defenders, mentions the management’s priority and concern over Valdez’ health and condition ahead of the biennial games in Kuala Lumpur.

Read the statement below:

UPDATED official statement of Rebisco Management on Aly’s participation in the PVL Open Conference semis #creamlinegoodvibes #coolsmashers pic.twitter.com/6JfmaQh00P

— Cool Smashers (@CoolSmashers) August 5, 2017

“After careful deliberation, we regret to inform you that Management has made the difficult decision to preserve Ly (Alyssa)’s current health condition and make her sit out all remaining Creamline games,” the announcement read.

“We’re sure that you understand why we made this decision, unpopular though it may be. We just want to make sure that Alyssa gets to fulfill her dream of representing the Philippines in the upcoming SEA games,” wrote the management of Rebisco, which was a sponsor of the national squad that saw action in the Asian Club Championships in Kazakhstan last May.

The updated release came out a day after the management revealed that the former Philippine flag bearer was given a green light by the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc to join in the Cool Smashers’ practices and PVL semis affair.

Official statement of Rebisco Management on Aly’s participation in the PVL Open Conference semifinals. #creamlinegoodvibes #coolsmashers pic.twitter.com/kIAg0m2Lfk

— Cool Smashers (@CoolSmashers) August 4, 2017

Valdez had already missed Creamline’s last few elimination matches as she joined the women’s national team in an intense 17-day camp in Japan, in preparation for the Malaysian Games which will take place on August 19 to 31.

The top seed Cool Smashers swept the elimination rounds with a clean 7-0 slate and will face 4-3 Bali Pure in the next phase. Game One is slated Saturday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

The winner of their semis contest will face either the Air Force Lady Jet Spikers or the Pocari Sweat Lady Warriors in the championship round of the Open Conference.

—Rappler.com