By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Jia De Guzman is set to reunite with former Premier Volleyball League team Creamline after nearly two years of playing abroad.
The veteran setter disclosed this development on Tuesday, June 17, at the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum, but stressed that her main focus is her duties with the national team who is coming off a historic silver-medal finish in the 2025 AVC Women’s Nations Cup.
“Of course, I’m going back to Creamline. But I went to a team that knows that I have responsibilities also for the flag,” said De Guzman, who is skipper of the Alas Pilipinas women’s volleyball team.
“So right now, I’m very grateful because they’re allowing me to focus entirely on Alas Pilipinas because we know that we have a responsibility to the country also,” she added.
De Guzman started playing for Creamline in 2017, where she won multiple individual awards including Best Setter and Finals Most Valuable Player.
She last played for the Cool Smashers in the 2023 PVL Invitational Conference where they lost to Japanese guest team Kurashiki Ablaze for the title.
De Guzman, then, signed with the Denso Airybees in the Japan V.League in that same year, becoming the first Filipina setter and the fifth Filipino player to play in the said league.
During her first season overseas, she helped the Airybees to a fifth-place finish in the V.League Division 1 women, followed by a championship during the Japan V.League Division 1 Women V.Cup.
De Guzman and Alas Pilipinas are set to compete in the VTV Cup in Vietnam later this month, followed by the Southeast Asian V.League in July, which are part of their training ground for their Southeast Asian Games campaign slated in December this year.
