There will not be any drastic changes when Alas Pilipinas competes in major international events, including the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand next year.

The Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) yesterday announced that members of Alas Pilipinas will be staying together following their historic performance in the AVC Challenge Cup late Wednesday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

The federation stressed that setter Jia de Guzman and opposite spiker Angel Canino will return after leading the Filipinos to a bronze-medal finish — the country’s first medal in any AVC tournament in 63 years.

Also returning will be Sisi Rondina, Eya Laure, Fifi Sharma, Faith Nisperos, Vannie Gandler, Thea Gagate, Julia Coronel, Arah Panique, Dell Palomata, Cherry Nunag, and liberos Dawn Macandili-Catindig and Jen Nierva.

The only additions, the federation leadership said, will be college stars Michaela Belen and Alyssa Solomon of National University and Casiey Dongallo of University of the East.

Actually, the three stars were originally part of the lineup but they begged off at the last minute following a grueling run in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines.

 “The intention is to keep this team intact with additional athletes from the college ranks,” the federation said in a statement a day after the squad’s triumphant performance.

“It’s a breakthrough, it’s historic, and the obvious next step is to keep this team intact and make it stronger and much more competitive, and next year, in the SEA Games, I believe we’ll have a very strong fighting chance.”

De Guzman said the victory, although coming off a second-tier tourney that missed the presence of big guns like China, South Korea, Japan and Thailand, is a “big milestone” for them, something that will boost their morale in the international arena, starting with a friendly match with the Koreans on 7 June.

“Well, this is a big milestone, but at the same time, we also had milestones before where we weren’t able to continue the momentum, so that’s what we’re praying for now,” De Guzman said.