ALAS PILIPINAS disposed of New Zealand, 25-17, 25-21, 25-18, to stay in the hunt for the semifinals of the AVC Women’s Volleyball Nations Cup on Wednesday in Hanoi.
Call it a clinical victory, but take it from team captain Jia de Guzman—the veteran setter who’s one of the best in that department—as she said every victory and every loss is a valuable lesson for the team.
“After our loss to Iran [Monday], we weren’t sad,” de Guzman said. “We knew what we needed to improve and we get to know how to improve on our weaknesses.”
The win came after the tournament took a day’s off and gladly for the team, it gave them the opportunity to retool all in 24 hours.
a one-day break, following a five-set loss to Iran on Monday—a setback that the team used as motivation to regroup.
“It showed in this match [New Zealand] that we remain motivated and inspired, we were all excited to play,” she said. “We’re here to fight for a spot in the semifinals and the scores showed our optimism.”
Vanie Gandler and Eya Laure led the national team with 12 points apiece, while Alyssa Solomon, who missed the Iran match with a minor ankle injury, added 11 points as the Philippines improved to a 3-1 won-lost in Pool B.
For head coach Jorge Edson Souza de Brito, the team’s mindset is “to win, win and win, and play good.”
“We never came here to only play,” he said. “We’re going to learn, but what’s best about this game is we can learn winning.”
A major hump, however, lies ahead on Thursday (11 a.m. Manila time) for Alas Pilipinas—they’ll be up against undefeated tournament favorite Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan made Indonesia its fourth straight prey, 25-17, 25-12, 26-24, to lead Pool B with Iran sharing second and third places with the Philippines also at 3-1, while Indonesia and Mongolia are out of the running with 0-3 cards.
The Philippines sits at 3-1, tied with Iran and behind unbeaten Kazakhstan (4-0), followed by New Zealand (2-2), Indonesia (0-3), and Mongolia (0-3) in Pool B.
In Pool A, host Vietnam leads with a 2-0 record, followed by Chinese Taipei (2-1), Australia (1-1), Hong Kong (1-2), and India (0-2).
The top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals.
