Sta. Lucia pulls out from 2022 PVL season to prioritize health of their players.
THE Sta. Lucia Lady Realtors has pulled out from the 2022 PVL season due to the heightened state of the Covid-19 pandemic and the surge of cases in the last few days, according to team manager Buddy Encarnado.
Encarnado said the team will be back once the health crisis returns to a more controllable environment and that the team is hoping for a comeback in 2024 or even late in 2022, given that the number of cases have gone down.
“On top of our priority is the health and safety of our players,” said Encarnado. “We are sure to be back when the situation stabilizes perhaps by 2023 or even earlier.”
Their team manager also added that taking a leave of absence this season was a difficult decision that had to be made due to the uncertainty of the health and safety of the players brought about by the pandemic.
This now leaves Sta. Lucia’s roster, in the likes of Mika Reyes, MJ Phillips, Bang Pineda, Aiza Maizo-Pontillas, Jovie Prado, Dell Palomata, Djanel Cheng, Glaudine Troncoso and Jonah Sabete, open to play for other teams at least for the year without their mother club.
According to Mika Reyes’ management, Virtual Playground, several PVL clubs have reached out to the middle blocker to negotiate.
However, the management did not name the teams she is in talks with and that Reyes is set to make her decision soon based on the composition and the stability of the franchise.
Other standoutsfrom Sta. Lucia Djanel Cheng and Jonah Sabete will return to Petro Gazz who were part of their successful 2019 season including the Reinforced Conference championship run while Glaudine Troncoso will start anew with Cignal HD Spikers.
Fellow Lady Realtors’ starters Aiza Maizo-Pontillas, MJ Phillips, Bang Pineda and Dell Palomata have yet to make any announcements on their new teams as of posting time.
Sports Vision president Ricky Palou and PVL commissioner Tonyboy Liao said new squads have expressed their intentions to join the league after Sta. Lucia’s leave of absence but talks are still ongoing.
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