CANDON, Ilocos Sur — Alas Pilipinas roared to a mighty bounce back win in a 25-9, 25-11, 25-17 drubbing of hapless Kyrgyzstan to stay in the hunt for a semifinals seat in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Women’s Volleyball Cup on Monday at the Candon City Arena here.
The Filipinas vented their ire on the Kyrgyz to rebound from a sorry five-set loss to Australia the day before for a 2-1 win-loss record in Pool A.
Alas’ 60-minute volleyball clinic over its Central Asian counterparts restored the host team’s confidence and momentum heading into its virtual do-or-die games against South Korea and Chinese Taipei.
“We worked on our lapses in our last game and tried to regain our confidence,” Alas middle blocker Thea Gagate said.
The ZUS Coffee standout finished with 11 points off eight kills, two kill blocks and an ace to lead Alas, which will take on the unbeaten Koreans today.
Veteran opposite spiker Jovelyn Gonzaga scored 10 points while Alyssa Valdez and Ces Molina contributed nine and eight markers, respectively, for Alas. Middle blocker Nina Ytang got all of her six points on attacks.
Alas was so dominant that eight of Kyrgyzstan’s nine points in the first set came off the Pinay spikers' errors, with only Roza Rasulbek Kyzy scoring for the visiting team’s lone point.
Head coach Shaq delos Santos freely emptied his bench with only Royse Tubino missing out in the action as Alas took control of the whole match.
A 7-0 start sparked Alas’ second set rampage before holding back a bit in the third frame with Delos Santos shuffling his rotation.
Alas hammered 48 attacks compared to just 12 of the winless Kyrgyz.
“I hope this win will help us in our game against Korea tomorrow (Tuesday). Knowing the Koreans, they are playing very well and are contenders in this tournament,” Delos Santos said.
