Alas Pilipinas recovered from a slow start to deny Indonesia, 22-25, 25-23, 25-13, 28-26, and stay unbeaten in the AVC Women’s Volleyball Nations Cup at the Dong Anh District Center for Culture, Information and Sports on Sunday in Hanoi.
Alyssa Solomon finished with 17 points, while Angel Canino and Bella Belen, who came off the bench, contributed 17 and 12 points, respectively, for Alas Pilipinas which is now 2-0 won-lost in Pool B tied with Kazakhstan.
“Pinaghandaan po talaga namin namin ‘yung match. Kahit sino man ang maglaro, kahit ‘yung nasa bench, kami, kasi hindi naman po kami starting six,” said Belen. “So ready lang kami sa mga puwedeng mangyari and napaghandaan naman po talaga namin ang Indonesia, alam namin na strong team sila, na maski mga bata sila alam namin na macha-challenge kami.”
Alas Pilipinas, which defeated Mongolia on Saturday, wasted no time and went back to the drawing board to prepare for their next assignment.
“Very happy kasi nagawa ng team kung ano ang pinag-aralan namin and pinag-usapan namin dapat namin gawin,” said Belen.
Alas Pilipinas reached match point courtesy of Fifi Sharma’s quick attack, but Ersandrina Devega tied the game and Canino’s attack error sent Indonesia to set point, 25-24.
Indonesia held on and looked to extend the match, taking a set point, 26-25, before Canino put Alas Pilipinas at match point and national team newcomer Shaina Nitura sealed the win for the national team.
“Very happy po kasi grabe po ‘yung bench, very deep, kahit sinong ipasok lalaban. Nakita ko po talaga kanina is teamwork and pagtiwala sa isa’t-isa po,” said Nitura.
Indonesia dropped to a 0-2 record.
Alas Pilipinas will face Iran on Monday 4 p.m. (Manila time).