Alas Pilipinas Girls. Photo from Asian Volleyball Confederation
Alas Pilipinas Girls swept Hong Kong, 25-20, 25-19, 25-10, on Friday to advance to the battle for fifth place in the 2nd Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Women’s U16 Volleyball Championship in Amman, Jordan.
Team captain Xyz Rayco powered the young Filipinas with 23 points built on 19 kills, two blocks, and two aces, as the squad bounced back from a tough five-set loss to Thailand a day earlier.
READ: AVC: Alas Pilipinas Girls succumb to Chinese Taipei, bow out of contention
“We made up for the mistakes we had yesterday. We didn’t want to lose that easily again,” said Rayco.
The Philippines will face Thailand on Saturday for fifth place at 5:30 p.m. (Philippine time). The Thais, who came back from a 2-1 match deficit against Alas, dominated Uzbekistan, 25-9, 25-14, 25-14, to set a rematch against Alas.
“We’re looking forward to playing them (Thailand) again so we can bounce back, especially since that match went all the way to a fifth set,” said Alas U16 coach Edwin Leyva.
“During that game, we could’ve won in the fourth set. We were already leading 2-1. Hopefully, this time, we already know how they play, so we can prepare better.”
READ: Alas Girls to battle Chinese Taipei in AVC U16 quarterfinals
A victory would cap the team’s debut international campaign among Asia’s top five nations.
Middle blocker Madele Gale continued to dominate in front with 11 points, while other middle blocker Jhenica Sadia and setter Resty Jane Olaguir each finished with six points.
Alas started the third set with a 15-5 margin after Gale’s quick attack. Megan Hernandez also had her moment, scoring three straight points to cap the 15-point rout in the third and finish with four points.
“It’s really nice to see the players enjoying the game. We told them to just relax since they were getting a bit tense with the back-to-back matches. We took time to meditate and also study our game plan as we prepared for Hong Kong,” said Leyva. “We watched their game videos, so we were able to study their style of play and how they move inside the court.”
Wing Tung Lee led Hong Kong with 14 points as they were relegated to the seventh-place duel against Uzbekistan.