Alinsunurin crafts draft plan but admits picking preferred name unlikely

PVL coach Dante Alinsunurin of Choco Mucho receives his award from the Collegiate Press Coprs during its awards night on Monday. -MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

Dante Alinsunurin may not be open as to who he plans to select in the coming Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Rookie Draft. But he was a little bit more forthcoming with his selection strategy, what with his Choco Mucho way down the picking order and with two vital holes to fill.

“We will also be looking at lesser desired players, whoever we can develop or what else we can do to solve the problem that we are having every time at the end of the season,” he said.

The Flying Titans will be missing middle blocker Cherry Nunag and foremost weapon outside hitter Sisi Rondina, who will be lent to Alas Pilipinas and, most probably, will be unavailable in July with the Nationals representing the country again in the Asian Volleyball Confederation Challenger Cup.

The UAAP champion coach knows what he’s losing in both standouts and will be looking to draft players who can supplant their contributions.

“We are hopeful to get a player that can help us in terms of our scoring and blockings to fill in what Sisi and Cherry have been doing inside the court,” Alinsunurin told the Inquirer in Filipino as he was hailed the UAAP men’s volleyball coach of the year by the Collegiate Press Corps on Monday night.

Manpower issues

But he was also realistic.

“Even though we know that the young ones performed well in the collegiate [ranks], it is still different once they are [in the PVL] so the adjustment can still be a problem,” he said.

Alinsunurin has previously said he has an idea who the team will be picking but prefers to keep those names in his back pocket since Choco Mucho will be on the block late in the draft and the chance of selecting highly desirable names remain slim.

The Flying Titans, who have yet to announce their import, finished with the silver in the last conference thus getting to pick a player near the end of round one just before champion team Creamline.

“Right now, we do have players in mind but we don’t know if we will have the chance to pick [them] because you and I know what our needs are and what are the needs of the other teams as well,” Alinsunurin said.

Choco Mucho encountered unfortunate manpower issues in the recent conferences with mainstays Des Cheng (outside hitter), Kat Tolentino (opposite) and Aduke Ogunsanya (middle blocker) suffering injuries.