Letran, St. Benilde headline Shakey’s Collegiate Invitationals

Team members and coaches ahead of the 2026 Shakey’s Collegiate National Invitationals. –CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines —NCAA finalists Letran and College of Saint Benilde headline the four collegiate teams and two guest squads from Vietnam and Australia in the 2026 Shakey’s Collegiate National Invitationals beginning Sunday at Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Letran, coming off a historic NCAA season, and runner-up St. Benilde will compete against the University of Santo Tomas, Enderun Colleges, Ho Chi Minh City Volleyball Club and Southern Storm Melbourne.

The Lady Knights will be the first to test the mettle of the Australian squad, followed by the UST-Enderun match. The Lady Blazers face the Vietnamese club in the day’s final match.

Letran continues to lean on Judiel Nitura, Verenicce Colendra and Joralyn Panangin after its NCAA Season 101 championship run.

The Lady Knights, however, will be without Gia Maquillang and Vanessa Sarie due to knee and right shoulder injuries, respectively.

“Our biggest goal is to become a better team every game. We want to make the most of this opportunity because we’ll be facing strong teams from Australia and Vietnam,” Letran deputy coach Mayeth Carolino said.

“The local teams are also very strong. Benilde, UST, and Enderun are all here, so we really have to work hard. It’s a great opportunity for us to be part of this tournament.”

St. Benilde coach Jerry Yee begins his team’s road to redemption with Kai Lleses and NCAA Season 101 Rookie of the Year Cam Bartolome leading the way after reigning MVP Zam Nolasco turned professional.

“We lost a lot of players from last year, so we’ll be trying out a lot of new faces. We’ll see how they perform, but hopefully we can stay competitive and put together a good showing,” Yee said.

Angge Poyos (No. 17), Reg Jurado (No. 18) and the Tigresses are finally in the win column. —MARLO CUETO

UST, meanwhile, will bank on Angge Poyos, Regina Jurado, Avril Bron, Marga Altea, Cassie Carballo and Kim Rubin, who led UST High School to the 2026 Shakey’s Girls Volleyball Invitational League Rising Stars Cup Division 1 title and earned MVP honors.

Enderun Colleges is also eager to make the most of the opportunity.

“It’s a big honor for us to be part of this tournament. It’s a great opportunity to gain experience against UAAP and NCAA teams, plus we’ll also get to face international opponents. We also want to show that Enderun has a strong volleyball program,” coach Dong Dela Cruz said.

Southern Storm Melbourne and Ho Chi Minh City Volleyball Club are also looking forward to testing themselves in the tournament, where the six teams will play a single-round elimination with the top four advancing to the knockout semifinals. The championship and third-place matches are winner-take-all.

“We want to experience a different flavor of volleyball here in the Philippines. We expect the style to be different in what we play and I think we are very eager for the challenge to keep up with it,” Southern Storm Melbourne coach Carlo Pacioni said.

“Our team will try our best and see how far we’ll be able to go in the tournament. We just want to demonstrate our best,” Ho Chi Minh City Volleyball Club coach Huinn Do Hong Loan said.