THE COLLEGIATE volleyball squads of the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars will have to play with basically the same lineup in this year’s Cesafi volleyball tournament as they weren’t able to beef up their lineup due to the new system of education.
Because of the K-to-12 system, two more years were added to the high school level. This means no potential high school spiker will graduate from USJ-R’s juniors squad this year.
More bad news for the men’s squad is that top spikers Owen de Belen and McCoy Rocamora can’t suit up this season since they’ve exhausted their playing years in the league.
“Our men’s team is now down to 15 from 17,” Jaguars assistant coach Heintjie Tomales said. “But both will be joining practice so they can help the other players.”
The USJ-R Baby Jaguars also face the same problem as after losing Canciano “Abai” Llenos to Ateneo earlier this month, they might also miss the services of team captain Earl Velos, who is still undecided whether he’ll continue his studies with USJ-R or not.
“Earl (Velos) is still going to talk with his father before he will decide,” USJ-R high school coach Roldan Potot said.
USJ-R’s girls’ team, meanwhile, might have some new players coming in.
This is after the team held tryouts a few months ago. Potot, though, won’t divulge the names of the potential belles.
“There’s still no final lineup. But I can’t give out the names because some teams might still be scouting,” Potot said.
Potot is trying to help improve USJ-R’s third place finish in the Cesafi last year, wherein the team suffered a major breakdown in the second round after winning eight straight games in the first.