Alyssa Valdez. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Who needs a single roommate when you can have 12?
For Alyssa Valdez, she doesn’t mind sharing a room with a specific teammate, let alone all of her teammates.
“Honestly, if I will have my wish granted, I’d take all of them as roommates,” Valdez said after their daily practices at Blue Eagle Gym in Ateneo.
READ: ‘Happy’ atmosphere envelopes PH women’s volley team days before SEAG
A day before they leave for Singapore for the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, rooms have not been assigned yet and Valdez wants to replicate what they did during the Asian Under 23 tournament.
“We really had a lot of fun during the Under-23 tournament because we all roomed together in one space,” Valdez said.
Of the bunch, almost everyone have been teammates with someone at one point.
Valdez had Jaja Santiago, Bea De Leon, Jia Morado, and Gretchel Soltones as teammates in the Under-23 squad.
Dindin Santiago-Manabat, team captain Jovelyn Gonzaga, and Rachel Ann Daquis are teammates in the Philippine Army.
READ: Jovelyn Gonzaga’s leadership style? ‘Not too chill, not too strict’
Maika Ortiz and Rhea Dimaculangan were almost inseparable since their days at University of Santo Tomas while another Thomasian, reserve player Aiza Maizo-Pontillas has been very familiar with the 12 women in the lineup.
Aby Maraño has been a teammate of Santiago-Manabat in one of Philippine volleyball’s commercial leagues.
Denden Lazaro has been a teammate of Valdez in Ateneo since her first year.
READ: Maraño sees bright future for young SEA Games teammates like Valdez, Santiago
With all the familiarity, and the familial bond of sisters Dindin and Jaja, the team’s excitement is at a high.
Team captain Gonzaga said she doesn’t prefer any single roommate.
For Morado, she doesn’t mind sharing a room with whomever since she’s had “the company of everyone” before. CC