UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas (UST) Head Coach Kungfu Reyes confirmed that EJ Laure will miss the whole Season 80 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) women’s volleyball tournament because of a chronic right-shoulder injury.
Laure, however, could not be reached for comment. She has made herself scarce since she was seen in public playing for Foton in the Philippine Super Liga Grand Prix last month.
The ace UST player has also been inactive in social media, brewing speculations that she will miss the coming UAAP tournament because of injury or academic deficiencies.
She has not joined the Tigresses in practice.
“The last time we talked to each other was last December and she told me about her chronic shoulder injury,” Reyes told reporters, who visited the team practice on Tuesday. “In my two years of coaching UST, her right shoulder has been her problem.”
UST will face defending champion De La Salle in the Season 80 Opener on February 3 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
A scoring-machine like Laure is a big loss but, for Reyes, their chances remain high as Sisi Rondina, Carla Sandoval, Dimdim Pacres, skipper Shanen Palec and setter Alina Bicar are all ready to begin a season without their top player.
“We don’t even talk about the fact that EJ is gone. We should start living without her because this is not EJ’s team, it’s everybody’s team. We are the UST team,” he said.