CANDON, Ilocos Sur — Alas Pilipinas’ chances of advancing to the semifinal hit a snag in a costly straight sets loss to mighty South Korea, 16-25, 18-25, 22-25, in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Women’s Volleyball Cup on Tuesday at the Candon City Arena here.

The Filipinas put up a gallant stand and even gave the unbeaten Koreans a scare late in the third set after taking a three-point lead, only to fizzle out in the end and fall to a precarious 2-2 win-loss record in Pool A.

South Korea won its third game in a row to tie Chinese Taipei, which defeated winless Uzbekistan, 25-17, 25-13, 25-19, earlier, at the top of the pool standings.

Middle blocker Thea Gagate had nine points on five kills, three kill blocks and an ace to lead Alas. Nina Ytang added eight while Alyssa Valdez and Alyssa Solomon chipped in seven markers each for the Philippines.

Alas’ semis fate is now out of its hands as it will need to beat Chinese Taipei on Thursday and hope that the Taiwanese would also drop their final pool match against South Korea.

Australia, which beat the host squad in five sets last Sunday, is also in the running for a semis spot.   

“At this point, we’ll have to give our all. We learned a lot and still learning a lot more. So, we’ll face our game on Thursday with all our hearts,” skipper Valdez said.

Ara Galang and Ces Molina added four points each for the Nationals.