Three Takes From The National Women's Volleyball Team Selection

So, the list has finally come out. Here are the fourteen women tasked to lift Philippine women's volleyball to the next level:

Aby Marano (Team Captain), Alyssa Valdes, Jaja Santiago, Dawn Macandili, Kim Fajardo, Jia Morado, Ces Molina, Majoy Baron, Kim Dy, Mika Reyes, Cha Cruz, Dindin Manabat, with Denden Lazaro and Rhea Dimaculangan on the reserve list.

Here are my three takes from this list:
Take #1: Isn't the team a bit...uhm, unbalanced? I look at the inital 12-person lineup and I see so many middle blockers but just 1 libero. Are we then banking on dominating the aerial battle at the net, rather than the trench warfare on the floor? Also, heavens forbid that Dawn Macandili have a bad day at the office (or worse, gets injured) because we may then have to test Cha Cruz-Behag's on-court versatility.

Janine Pontejos Makes FIBA 3x3 History for Philippines.

In the end, the best man left standing was a Filipina.

Yes, the smallest of the snipers, Janine Pontejos, stood tallest when the chips were down by scoring 14 points in 41.86 seconds to finally give them Philippines its first gold medal in the senior division* of the FIBA 3x3 tournament.

Here are three things that helped Pontejos win the shootout:

1) Homecourt advantage - There's nothing like playing at home and Pontejos definitely felt the love from the home crowd, which helped prop up her confidence.