DEFENSE was Alas Pilipinas’ best offense, as it put away Indonesia in four sets, 22-25, 25-23, 25-13, 28-26, in Pool B of the 2025 AVC Women’s Volleyball Nations Cup on Sunday in Hanoi, Vietnam.
True to its name, Alas relied on a strong service game where it poured in nine total aces along with an unassailable 12-block party to repel the Indonesians’ methodical offense.
Alyssa Solomon had both the Philippines’ offense and defense on lock in her tournament debut with 17 points on 10 attacks, a game-high four blocks, and three aces.
Her explosive debut came to a screeching halt after hurting her left ankle in an attack attempt early in Set 4. She did not return to the match.
Rookie MVP energizers
The UAAP’s last two women’s volleyball MVPs in Angel Canino and Bella Belen, both coming off the bench, still struck double-digits with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
Not even a shaky start could rattle the nationals who struggled to outpace Indonesia’s steady flow of points — most coming from drop balls that the Philippines failed to repulse in the earlygoing.
Still down 3-9 in the second set, Alas head coach Jorge Souza de Brito was forced into shuffling his deck of aces by throwing Belen, Canino, and Shaina Nitura into the mix.
That worked wonders as they evened the match before racing out the gates in the third frame with a 12-point blowout that saw the Filipinos put up six aces and four blocks.
Nitura pitched in five points, including the game-winning attack to convert Alas’ third match point.
By putting a heated affair to rest in four sets, the Philippines closed out Day 2 of pool play as one of three remaining unbeaten teams in Pool B along with Kazakhstan and its next opponent in Iran on June 8 at 4 p.m.
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