ALAS Pilipinas Women will battle a familiar adversary in Vietnam in the semifinals of the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games women’s volleyball tournament on Sunday.
Vietnam, playing with a depleted roster but still anchored by multi-awarded outside hitter Tran Thi Thanh Thuy (T4), clinched the No. 1 seed in Group B after dispatching Indonesia in a swift 25-20, 25-15, 25-19 win to close out the group stage.
READ: Alas Women advance to SEA Games semis after sweeping Singapore
The victory set up a crossover duel against Group A’s second-seeded Philippines, with the winner advancing to the gold medal match.
The semifinal clash will mark the fourth meeting this year between the two regional rivals. Vietnam swept all three prior encounters — each one featuring T4 and star hitter Nguyen Thi Bich Tuyen, who opted out of the SEA Games amid gender-related controversies.
Their highest-stakes duel came in June during the finals of the 2025 AVC Women’s Volleyball Nations Cup.
Alas Women’s dream run ended there as they absorbed a 15-25, 17-25, 14-25 defeat and settled for silver.
Despite the loss, three members of the current SEA Games roster earned individual honors in team captain Jia de Guzman as best setter, Angel Canino as best outside hitter and Dell Palomata capturing her first-ever international best middle blocker award.
The two sides crossed paths again in the twin legs of the 5th SEA V.League where Vietnam prevailed in four sets in the opening leg and in straight sets in the second.
Canino secured another best outside hitter citation in the first leg, while libero Justine Jazareno earned her first best libero award in the second.
With a finals berth at stake, Alas Women will look to break Vietnam’s recent dominance and punch their first SEA Games gold medal match appearance since 1997 and end a 20-year medal drought once and for all.
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