PVL: If she is drafted by a PVL team other than Farm Fresh, Alohi promises to return home; Gorayeb becomes a consultant while Alas’ Brazilian coach assumes leadership

Jun 3, 2025

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On draft night, PVL teams hoping to hire her were given a harsh but strange warning by Alohi Robins-Hardy.

Farm Fresh is crucial for the Filipino-Hawaiian setter.

Robins-Hardy vehemently insisted in a statement released by Strong Group Athletics (SGA) that her sole goal in rejoining the PVL is to play for the Foxies.

“When I arrived last year, I made a promise to Tito Frank [Lao] and to Farm Fresh — that’s the only team I will play for,” In an article shared on SGA’s social media pages, she stated.

“I signed a five-year contract with them because I believe in what they’re building.”

Due to her continued vacation in the United States, Robins-Hardy was a noteworthy absence from both days of the 2025 PVL Rookie Draft Combine.

In the upcoming PVL draft, Farm Fresh will select third overall, allowing Capital1 and Galeries Tower to take Robins-Hardy before the Foxies do.

Her intentions to rejoin the PVL as a free agent signing were thwarted by the league’s eligibility regulations last year. She later assumed deputy coaching positions with the SGA stable’s Farm Fresh and the University of the Philippines.

Robins-Hardy revealed that if she doesn’t make it to the Foxies camp, she will have no option but to quit Philippine volleyball since the draft is the only chance for her to play in the PVL.

On the other hand, the Capital1 Solar Spikers’ new head coach is Jorge Souza de Brito of Alas Pilipinas.

Days after the draft combine, the national team coach abruptly took over as head coach from Roger Gorayeb, who had been in charge for just over a year.

Going ahead, Gorayeb will move into a consulting position.

With the first pick in the 2025 PVL Rookie Draft, the Solar Spikers will have to make another franchise-defining choice in less than a week.

It’s important to note that Hollie Reyes, the team manager for the Solar Spikers and Alas Women, was formerly in charge of the now-defunct F2 Logistics Cargo Movers before they were dissolved in 2023.

The PVL homecoming of Coach Jorge

The former Olympic gold winner has previously served as both club and national coach at the same time.

When the team joined the PVL in 2022, the 58-year-old Brazilian goalie served as Akari’s first head coach.

About a year into his service as head coach of Alas Pilipinas, he was named to the newest PVL squad at the moment.

Akari has finished seventh once, ninth twice, and tenth once in the four conferences he has coached.

After that, de Brito experienced unexpected success as coach of the national team after Alas Women won three bronze medals in 2024 in the Southeast Asian (SEA) V.League and the AVC Challenge Cup.

But with a busy year ahead, some concessions will have to be made as the national team starts preparing for the 33rd SEA Games in December this month by competing in two regional tournaments in Vietnam.

The first is the AVC Nations Cup, which takes place on June 8th, the same day as the 2025 PVL Rookie Draft.

De Brito will therefore oversee draft-night operations from Hanoi and defer to Gorayeb and the other Capital1 coaches and management for on-field decision-making.

Firm foundations

During his last interview as head coach on Day 2 of the 2025 PVL Rookie Draft Combine, Gorayeb expressed his excitement at being selected first overall in search of a franchise face who might help the team’s fortunes turn around.

More significantly, he thought back on the hectic experience he had during the club’s debut year in the PVL.

It has been one of his biggest honors as a volleyball coach to watch his young guns grow from the bottom up and see his squad, which he built from the start, make progress.

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