ALAS Pilipinas Women wrapped up their Asian Games campaign with a third consecutive sweep, beating Hong Kong, 25-21, 25-9, 30-28, on Tuesday to finish ninth in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
After running riot in the second set, Alas was made to sweat in the third, needing to erase four Hong Kong set points before finally closing out the match.
READ: Alas Women cruise past Mongolia, reach Asiad 9th-place match
Bella Belen, after a string of rough outings earlier in the tournament, found her footing when Alas needed her most, landing back-to-back hits to finally put away Hong Kong and secure ninth place for the Philippines.
She led all scorers with 18 points, followed by Alas’ Asiad topscorer Angel Canino with 17 and Alyssa Solomon with 11.
The Philippines went unbeaten in the classification stage, sweeping Qatar, Mongolia and Hong Kong over a tight three-day stretch.
That run came after back-to-back Pool B losses to China and Kazakhstan ended the Nationals' medal hopes and sent them to the placement rounds.
The ninth-place finish is the Philippines' lowest in six Asiad women’s volleyball appearances, although it came in the biggest field the country has faced in the event.
The 14-team Aichi-Nagoya field was three teams larger than in 2018, when the Philippines finished eighth. The Nationals previously placed fourth in 1962 and 1966, sixth in 1970 and fifth in 1982.
For all the progress Alas showed in the classification stage, ninth place still leaves the Nationals with plenty to take away from their first Asian Games under the new program.
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