Photo By Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
The Philippine women’s national volleyball team just hit a bump as it prepares for the upcoming Asian Games after setter Rhea Dimaculangan decided to leave the team.
National team head coach Shaq Delos Santos said Dimaculangan, who is an injury reserve for the Asian Games team, told him that she would like to beg off from the group to have a sabbatical from all things volleyball.
“She wanted to have a vacation, just a period of time wherein she can take her mind off of things,” said Delos Santos in Filipino Saturday at Filoil Flying V Centre after their 25-13, 25-17, 25-11 win over Cocolife in the Philippine Superliga Invitational Conference.
Dimaculangan apparently already wanted to be left off the national team roster even before the Invitational Conference began where the group is playing as a guest team.
Maika Ortiz, who is part of the national team pool, will replace Dimaculangan in the reserved list for the group that will go to Jakarta in August.
Delos Santos, though, said they’re not closing their doors on Dimaculangan if she ever wants to return to the national team.
“Of course we’re not totally leaving her out of the national team because any time we will need a lot of players,” said Delos Santos. “That is the reason why we wanted to have a deep pool so we can easily put in players in a moment’s notice.”