ALAS Pilipinas Girls has now gone where no Philippine volleyball team has ever gone before at a world championship.
The Philippines barged into the Round of 16 of the 2026 FIVB Volleyball Girls U17 World Championship, already securing the country’s best-ever finish in the tournament even after a gritty five-set loss to world No. 12 Venezuela on Tuesday in San Felipe, Chile.
READ: Alas Girls in do-or-die mode after loss to Peru in FIVB U17 Worlds
The Filipinas came within a set of completing another upset before Venezuela escaped. Nonetheless, they got the point they needed despite the 19-25, 16-25, 25-22, 25-19, 11-15 five-set loss to advance to the knockout stage.
Alas Girls did so after already pulling off statement wins over world No. 8 Mexico and No. 20 Tunisia, finishing pool play with a 2-3 record and joining the likes of China, the USA, South Korea, and Poland in the last 16.
That alone makes this the deepest run by any Philippine volleyball team in a world championship, surpassing the men’s side led by Bryan Bagunas that finished 19th last year and the women’s team that placed 18th in the 1974 World Championship in Mexico.
But the Filipinas are not done, as they will face South Korea on Wednesday in Los Andes, with a quarterfinal berth and another piece of history on the line.
Caera Celis once again led the charge with 24 points, including 22 attacks and two aces, while Xyz Rayco added 19 points on 17 attacks, one block, and one ace. Jhaynna Bulandres came off the bench with eight points on six attacks and two blocks.
Against all odds
The breakthrough comes despite preparations that fell well short of ideal.
After qualifying through a fifth-place finish at the AVC U16 Women’s Championship last November, the nationals had hoped to build chemistry through an extended training camp. Instead, leadership changes and management turbulence within the Philippine National Volleyball Federation disrupted those plans.
“It’s fulfilling to see these kids succeed and achieve more because it’s the start of their journey in international volleyball. We’re looking forward to seeing these 14 players be future national team players in the senior level,” said assistant coach and team manager Karl Chan.
Head coach Edwin Leyva, meanwhile, said the squad had been forced to accelerate its learning curve, adjusting to unfamiliar opponents and temperatures as low as 4-degrees Celsius while playing on the world stage.
“China is clearly on a different level. But against the rest of the pool, I believed we had a chance, if only we had more time to train and gel. Still, they’ve matured a lot playing matches at this level,” Leyva said.
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