Alas Pilipinas at AVC Women's Nations Cup in Hanoi, Vietnam. Photo from Asian Volleyball Confederation
Alas Pilipinas could not hold off Iran, falling prey to the rallying Western Asian team in a dramatic five-set 25-16, 21-25, 26-24, 23-25, 13-15 loss in the AVC Women's Nations Cup on Monday in Hanoi, Vietnam.
With this, the Nationals drop to 2-1, just below Kazakhstan and Iran which now have 3-0 win-loss records each in Pool B.
Alas Women had a solid start against the Iran side, cruising to a 25-16 Set 1 triumph banking on Eya Laure and Angel Canino's high-precision spiking to go with the middle players' extensive efforts on the net courtesy of Fifi Sharma and Dell Palomata.
READ: Belen-Solomon-Canino prowess on full display as Alas Pilipinas rips Indonesia in Nations Cup
Laure had six points in that frame alone, Canino had five, and Sharma and Palomata had three markers each. Knotted at 8-all, Alas unleashed six unanswered points to pull away and never looked back.
READ: Alas Pilipinas dismantles Mongolia for strong start in AVC Women's Nations Cup
READ: Alas Pilipinas Men, Women brace for tough challenges abroad
Alas wasn't able to hold on to the slim 20-18 lead it had in the succeeding frame, as Iran fired a finishing 7-1 blitz to tie at 1-1.
The Jia de Guzman-captained squad then squandered a huge 19-11 lead in Set 3, but got its act going as Laure and Canino found the much-needed attacks in the extended frame to shut out the Iran scare.
And then it was Iran in the last two cantos as it completed the five-set comeback.
Alas was first to reach the 13-point mark in Set 5 at 13-11 built on Palomata quick attack and a Vanie Gandler ace. But they could not capitalize on it, as Zahra Salehi found the back-to-back kill blocks to deal the Philippines' first defeat in the tournament.