It won’t be long now before Bella Belen makes her PVL debut.
The expectations may be sky high as a first overall pick, but Bella Belen isn’t backing down from the pressure that comes with her highly anticipated Premier Volleyball League debut.
Rather, Belen is treating this pressure as a privilege and as a motivation to exceed the winning history she wrote with National University as she debuts for the Capital1 Solar Spikers in the 2025 PVL Reinforced Conference.
“I love being challenged talaga kahit saang liga o kahit sinong kalaban ‘yan, and parang for me, kailangan ko lang mag-prepare talaga kung paano ako magpe-perform this conference, lalo first time ko maglalaro sa PVL,” Belen said on Thursday, October 2, or five days before Capital1 opens the new conference at the Ynares Center in Montalban.
“Siguro ‘yun nga, may pressure din sa part ko syempre as a rookie, pero parang tine-take ko ‘yung pressure din as privilege kasi ‘yun and kailangan ko lang mag-perform kung ano ‘yung kaya kong gawin for the team.”
Belen is coming off a storied UAAP career with National U, where she won a whopping total of eight championships and five Most Valuable Player awards throughout the high school and collegiate ranks. The prized hitter is also fresh off a productive stint with Alas Pilipinas, which was headlined by a historic silver medal finish at the AVC Nations League last June.
Yet for everything she’s achieved, Bella Belen knows that she has more to show as a professional player for Capital1.
“Siguro same pa rin naman, parang same Bella pero 2.0; siguro mas palabaan kasi siyempre ‘yung mga makakalaban ko mas may experience na sa akin; talagang veterans na sila so marami akong matutunan sa kanila, and kailangan ko lang talaga mag-perform kung ano ‘yung alam ko na kaya kong gawin,” she said.
Belen joins a promising Capital1 side that includes her Alas teammate Leila Cruz, libero Roma Mae Doromal, outside hitter Trisha Genesis, veteran setter Iris Tolenada, and their Ukrainian import in Oleksandra Bytsenko.
The Solar Spikers have also tapped national team coach Jorge Souza de Brito to take over from Roger Gorayeb. Given all these changes, Belen knows that the Solar Spikers have what it takes to make some noise in the long run.
“Excited talaga ako kung paano magpe-perfrom ‘yung team namin ngayong conference, kasi pag tinitignan naman namin like tao-tao, kaya talagang sumabay sa bawat team, sa mga kalaban namin,” she said.
“Sadayang kailangan lang talaga namin mag-three times na work hard para makamit namin ‘yung goal namin.”
Over a year since their magical run with Marina Tushova, can Bella Belen and the Solar Spikers turn heads once again in this year’s Reinforced Conference?
Banner images courtesy of the Premier Volleyball League.