Last year, Grethcel Soltones was controversially suspended by the Philippine Superliga.
Soltones was in the Iriga Lady Oragons lineup, and had played a match in the 2017 Chooks to Go/PSL Grand Prix before participating in the Premier Volleyball League All-Star match in November.
The PSL enforced its strict one-league policy on Soltones, who was handed a one-year suspension with a fine.
Nearly a year later, Soltones, her new club Smart, and the PSL have worked things out.
Soltones now plays for the Giga Hitters and was happy to be back playing volleyball in the highly-competitive league.
“Sobrang saya nakabalik po ako dito after one year. Hi PSL,” Soltones quipped after dropping 17 points on Sta. Lucia.
As her longtime mentor and Smart head coach Roger Gorayeb put it, the 23-year-old Cebuana just wanted to play volleyball.
“Alam mo, when they told me two months ago that we will be participating here, that was my first question to them – Papaano si Grethcel? Nagsabi ako doon na hindi ako maglalaro nang wala si Grethcel,” recalled Gorayeb.
“Anyway, I think it was the decision of another person, so madali naman ‘yun kasi this is volleyball. I lend Grethcel to Iriga kasi volleyball naman ‘yung lalaruan niyan. Isa lang ang kinasasama ko ng loob, na dapat ‘yung mga bata nage-enjoy. Kasi itong mga bata gusto lang naman niyan maglaro hindi naman niyan iniisip kung magkano ang kikitain namin, wala namang mga ganoong tanong ‘yan, gusto lang nila maglaro.”
Now, Soltones is focused on keeping Smart’s and Gorayeb’s winning tradition going in a new league.
“Actually, katulad ng sabi ni coach, hindi talaga kami nag-eexpect kapag nagstart na ‘yung liga kasi bolog naman ang bola,” shared the 2017 PVL Open Conference Finals Most Valuable Player.
“Ang mapa-promise lang namin is mage-enjoy kami every game and ipapakita namin kung hanggang saan namin kaya as a team.”
