Alas Pilipinas Women celebrate with their Pinoy fans in Vietnam as the national team clinches a semis spot in the AVC Nations Cup 2025 at Kazakhstan's expense. AVC photo
(UPDATED) Alas Pilipinas was scorching hot on Thursday, conquering Kazakhstan in stunning straight-set fashion, 25-21, 25-15, 25-19, in the AVC Women's Nations Cup in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The Nationals had all the answers today against the Kazakhs, who were their last year's tormentors in the Challenge Cup semis.
With the Independence Day triumph, the national team is now bound for the semifinals — a real chance of repeating a bronze medal finish or more.
Alas Women also officially took the top seed of their group, tallying a 4-1 win-loss card and 13 points — a point higher than closest rival Kazakhstan, which stayed at 12 pts.
The Philippines will take on the second seed of Pool A in the next round.
The young trio of Bella Belen, Alyssa Solomon, and Angel Canino was there to do the heavy lifting, dealing the most scoring damage to the Kazakhs.
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Belen registered a total of 16 points on 14 attacks and two blocks to lead all scorers, Solomon had 14 points on 11 attacks, two aces and a block, including the game-clinching spike, while Canino delivered 13 markers.
Fifi Sharma and Dell Palomata nabbed five points each, but did more than that by pressuring the opponents on the net.
Tied at 17-all in the final chapter, Alas found the spark in the NU Lady Bulldogs' Belen and Solomon, who were the culprits in the team's 8-2 finishing kick in the end, accompanied by timely errors from the opponents.
Alas Women kept their rivals at bay in the opening frame, maintaining around two to three points of separation en route to a 25-21 win.
Set 2 showed little resistance from the Kazakhs, as a 6-0 finishing kick built on Belen spike, Solomon ace, Belen block on Tatyana Nikitina, an opponent's error, and back-to-back scores from the opposite hitter allowed Alas to take Set 2 for a 2-0 cushion.
DLSU Lady Spikers' Canino, for her part, scored all her points in the first and second sets, supplementing Alas' offensive drive in those frames.