Tempo Desk
PLDT Home Fibr only retained four players from its 2021 lineup for the upcoming 2022 Premier Volleyball League season.
Setter Rhea Dimaculangan, opposite hitter Eli Soyud, outside spiker Chin Basas, and libero Nieza Viray will be back with the High Speed Hitters.
For Dimaculangan, it will be a huge challenge for her to not just adapt to new head coach George Pascua’s system but also bring together their new teammates who will be announced in the coming days.
“Big challenge not just for me but also for every one of us kasi we need to adapt yung bagong system ni Coach George and at the same time need namin yung familiarity in and out of the court sa bagong teammates namin,” the 30-year-old playmaker from Batangas said.
“Pero at the end of the day we need to focus muna sa sarili namin kung paano pa kami mag-iimprove and makakatulong sa team para maabot namin yung goal namin,” she added.
Dimaculangan though will not just be the main setter of the team after she was tasked to be the captain of the squad.
With that responsibility falling on her shoulders, the soft-spoken Dimaculangan is already working on becoming more expressive both on and off the court.
“I need to be more vocal in providing support sa mga teammates ko and need ko rin na mas makilala sila personally para alam ko kung paano ko sila mabibigyan ng motivation,” she shared.
During her first year with PLDT, the team finished with a 3-6 record in the Open Conference, good for just seventh place.
Dimaculangan is setting the bar high for her second year. But she knows that a lot of the work has to be done from now until February 16 — the target date of PVL’s opening.
“Expectations ko for this season is better performance and finish for PLDT. But we need to work hard and one step at a time muna ang focus namin hanggang sa maabot namin yung goal namin as a team,” she said.
