ALAS Pilipinas stormed past Iran, 25-16, 25-14, 25-15, to secure the country’s first-ever trip to the semifinals of the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup for Women on a rainy Saturday evening at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
The historic win marks the very first time that a Philippine team, either men or women, has reached the semifinal round of an AVC competition.
Moreover, the Philippines jumped five places in the latest FIVB women's volleyball world rankings from 60th to 57th — surpassing the likes of Iran, Indonesia and Chile.
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Even with a shuffled deck of starting aces featuring the likes of Vanie Gandler, Cherry Nunag and Jen Nierva, Alas cruised to its first straight-sets victory after two hard-earned comebacks over semis-seeking sides Australia and India.
Despite being held to limited minutes, Angel Canino was still the leader of Alas' pack on offense with 16 points built on 11 attacks, three aces and two blocks to emerge as the tournament's leading scorer after Day 4 of the preliminaries.
She was aided by player of the game Sisi Rondina's 12 attack points.
Two clutch markers from Faith Nisperos in her Alas debut, including the game-winning attack in the third set, completed the Philippines' hattrick of wins to open pool play.
"Na-aamaze ako sa mga teammates namin ngayon kasi ang bilis magadjust and parang pare-pareho lang kami talaga ng role. Kung ano 'yung kailangan gawin, pinupunan, at lalong-lalo na't led pa by ate Jia (de Guzman) kaya thankful ako sa kanila kasi sobrang napapadali 'yung trabaho namin," said Rondina.
"Ito naman talaga yung pinakahihintay namin sa volleyball community na makapasok 'yung national team ng Philippines sa semis kasi ito pa nga 'yung hindi natin nagagawa.
"It’s a big privilege na maging part ng national team lalo na itong batch na ito kasi sobrang ganda ng performance and 'yung gustong ilabas ng mga bata nakakatuwa, nakakainspire, nakakaproud sila," added Cherry Nunag.
It was also a vengeful victory for the nationals as they made up for last year's straight-sets loss to the Iranian side in the classification phase.
The hosts are now assured of their best-ever finish in the continental showcase following its seventh-place finish in the tournament's sophomore edition in 2023 in Indonesia.
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