Alas Pilipinas tempers expectations

Decorated winger Alyssa Valdez is tempering expectations for the revamped Alas Pilipinas squad that will see action in the country’s hosting of the 2026 Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Women’s Cup next month.

Valdez led the 20-woman Alas pool list announced by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) on Tuesday for the 12-nation tilt set 6 to 14 June in Candon, Ilocos Sur.

The Filipinas are bunched with Chinese Taipei, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Australia, and Uzbekistan in Pool A.

Defending champion Vietnam is joined in Pool B by Kazakhstan, Iran, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Lebanon.

“I guess realistically, we really cannot predict anything this AVC. We’re also just formed recently. All we can do now is prepare and give our opponents a good fight this AVC,” said Valdez during her appearance in the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum.

Valdez was joined by interim head coach Shaq delos Santos, Ces Molina, Jovelyn Gonzaga and Niña Ytang in the weekly forum held at the Philippine Sports Commission building inside the historic Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

The new Alas will be a reunion of sorts for Valdez, Gonzaga and Molina after playing for the national squad that saw action in the 2019 Manila Southeast Asian Games.

“I’m really happy because they were the first ones to commit to the team. I think all the lessons we learned before will help us become more mature in handling different situations now,” Delos Santos said.

Also in the unveiled Alas pool were Valdez’s Creamline teammates setter Kyle Negrito, libero Kyla Atienza and Tots Carlos.

Molina’s Farm Fresh teammates Trisha Tubu, Royse Tubino and Ara Galang also got called up along with Gonzaga’s ZUS Coffee buddies libero Alyssa Eroa, playmaker Clo Mondonedo and middle blocker Thea Gagate, who’s been part of Alas in the past two years.

Ytang, a Premier Volleyball League (PVL) draft aspirant out of University of the Philippines, bannered the young bloods in the list alongside Far Eastern University’s Tin Ubaldo, Jaz Ellarina, and Alas mainstay Cla Loresco, Letran’s Lara Mae Silva, Vanessa Sarie, and Natalie Estreller and Adamson’s Lhouriz Tuddao.

“We’re very, very humbled and excited to be part of the national team again, and we’re just looking forward to learning more and definitely representing the country with pride,” Valdez said.

This Alas batch has a tough act to follow after the previous squad won a breakthrough bronze in the 2024 edition held in Manila before falling short to host Vietnam in the final last year.

Alas will head to Candon next week to begin the last phase of its training.

The Nationals had to reset their lineup after the core of the Alas squad that campaigned in the last two years, bannered by setter and captain Jia Morado-de Guzman, Bella Belen, Angel Canino and Alyssa Solomon, bailed out for various reasons.