ALAS Pilipinas Women proved it can stand toe-to-toe with defending champion Vietnam, but keeping pace for an entire match was a different story altogether.
READ: Jia returns as coach Taka debuts for Alas Women in SEA V.Cup
The Philippines gave Vietnam all it could handle in a tight first set before yielding a 27-29, 17-25, 25-20, 19-25 loss to open the first leg of the 6th SEA V.Cup on Friday at the Dong Anh Gymnasium.
The defeat was the Nationals' 15th straight against Vietnam since 2019, with the hosts now owning 17 wins in their last 20 head-to-head matches over an 11-year stretch.
But it hardly looked that way in the match as Alas Women threatened to end that skid and give new head coach Taka Minowa a winning debut.
Promising signs for Alas Women
Eya Laure and Bella Belen powered the Philippines to a 5-1 lead before the Filipinas earned the first two set points. But Vietnam had Tran Thi Thanh Thuy (T4), who delivered in crunch time to steal the opener on the hosts' third set point.
That proved to be the turning point as Vietnam rode the momentum into the second set as Alas Women unraveled behind 18 unforced errors through the first two frames, falling behind two sets to none.
Alas Women found another gear in the third, with Belen leading the charge as the Filipinas capitalized on T4's extended spell on the bench to force a fourth set. That was as far as the comeback went, with Vietnam seizing control from the outset of the fourth and never loosened its grip.
Still, pushing Vietnam to the limit in stretches gave Alas Women encouraging signs to carry into Saturday's match with defending Leg 1 champion Thailand.
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