Julia Coronel is living the dream as she makes her national team debut in the AVC Challenge Cup that is set to open today at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Coronel, who played a crucial role in De La Salle University’s championship run in Season 85 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), expressed excitement upon getting a call-up from the Philippine National Volleyball Federation.

She said playing for the national squad is a dream-come-true so she will do her best to live up to expectations.

“More than anything, I feel that everyone is excited for this upcoming tournament. For most of us, it’s been a long-time dream to be called for the national team,” Coronel said.

“It’s personally been my longtime dream also, so I’m very honored to be part of this lineup.”

But more than representing the country, Coronel admitted that playing for Alas Pilipinas will be her opportunity to learn more from veteran setter Jia de Guzman.

De Guzman, who led Ateneo de Manila University to two UAAP titles, is coming off a successful season in Japan in which she led the Denso Airybees to the V. League title.

“It means a lot to me, considering that I’m playing with a lot of experienced players, especially, what I’ve always been saying, with Ate Jia (De Guzman) because I’m really looking forward to learning a lot from her,” Coronel said.

“More on technique, and proper decision making especially in different situations. That’s what I’m very eager to learn more from her.”

De Guzman said having Coronel as her understudy is very crucial to their Asian campaign, where they will face Australia, India, Chinese Taipei and Iran in the preliminaries.

“The job of the setter is not only to connect with other spikers. I also have to connect well with others,” De Guzman said, adding that Coronel’s familiarity with her La Salle teammates like Angel Canino and Thea Gagate will be her biggest advantage.

“She’s familiar with the younger spikers’ sets, I’m more familiar with the seniors, so in a way, we can easily adjust to whatever the team needs.”

Coronel admitted that they had limited time to prepare but they will still do their best to shock the best spikers in Asia and qualify in the Challenger Cup that the country will host from 4 to 7 July.

“With the upcoming tournament, with the upcoming matches, I will say that there is no pressure on everyone, no expectations,” she said.

“Again, we’ve been given limited preparations for this but we’re doing our best.”