THE medal streak is over as Alas Pilipinas Women saw its hopes of a third straight AVC Women's Cup podium come crashing down after bowing to Chinese-Taipei, 16-25, 14-25, -, in its final Pool A match on Thursday at the Candon City Arena.
The defeat dropped the Nationals to 2-3 (win-loss) and formally eliminated them from semifinal contention, a bitter outcome for a program that had steadily risen from a bronze-medal finish in 2024 to a silver-medal breakthrough just a year ago.
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With Chinese-Taipei and Korea both still unbeaten and firmly entrenched atop Pool A, the Philippines no longer has a mathematical path to overtake either side.
Both teams can no longer finish with more than two losses, leaving Alas out of the running regardless of the remaining results.
Alyssa Solomon scored six points off the bench, with Niña Ytang and Ces Molina adding three each to pace the loss.
Long before the first serve in Candon City, the national team was already navigating turbulence as player withdrawals disrupted plans, leadership questions lingered in the background and the eventual roster came together under less-than-ideal circumstances as the program scrambled to assemble a competitive squad for its home tournament.
End of the road
While Alas managed impressive victories over Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, damaging defeats to Australia and Korea left little room for error entering its showdown with Chinese-Taipei.
Instead of delivering a season-saving result, the Nationals found themselves overmatched by another East Asian powerhouse determined to secure its own semifinal berth.
Whether viewed through the lens of roster instability, preparation challenges or the growing pains of a national team still searching for continuity, the result underscored just how difficult it is to sustain success on the continental stage.
The Philippines still has one last classification match to play, but its pursuit of another podium finish has now come to an end.
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