MANILA — Alas Pilipinas Women carved out their best finish in SEA V. Cup history, outlasting Indonesia in a tense four-set battle, 25-13, 23-25, 25-19, 33-31, on Sunday at the 700th Anniversary Stadium in Chiang Mai, Thailand to capture a historic silver medal.
The runner-up finish was the Philippines’ first since the regional tournament, formerly known as the SEA V-League, was established in 2019.
Alas Pilipinas closed the second leg with a 2-1 record, punctuating its campaign with back-to-back victories over Vietnam and Indonesia after entering the final stretch still searching for its first win.
The Filipinas had to survive a marathon fourth set against a stubborn Indonesian squad, repeatedly fighting off the opposition before finally sealing the match, 33-31.
Bella Belen, Alyssa Solomon, Eya Laure, Dell Palomata, Jia De Guzman and Thea Gagate spearheaded the Philippine attack, while Dawn Catindig and Justin Jazareno also saw action.
Fifi Sharma and Niña Ytang provided timely contributions as Alas Pilipinas weathered Indonesia’s late charge to secure the breakthrough silver.
“We were just saying that nothing to expect. So I just told everybody to focus on ourselves and not focus on the opponent’s side because what we can control is only on our side. And so, they did it,” said Alas Women head coach Taka Minowa.
“We just trained for 15 days and came to Vietnam and Thailand [legs]. For sure, we’re just starting the program, and we have a lot of opportunities, a lot of space to improve [after] this game,” he added.
The Filipinas dominated the net with 15 blocks against Indonesia’s three and committed significantly fewer errors, 15-33.
Indonesia held a 67-58 advantage in attacks and produced three service aces while the Philippines had none, but Alas Pilipinas compensated with its blocking and cleaner play.
The silver-medal breakthrough capped an impressive turnaround for the Filipinas in the second leg and provided another boost to the national women’s volleyball program ahead of bigger international competitions.
Alas Pilipinas Women are expected to return to action next month as they begin preparations for their Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games campaign./PN
