ALAS Pilipinas continued their stunning run and conquered Australia, bringing home the bronze medal at the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup held Wednesday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
Despite playing on a rainy Wednesday, the Filipinas were on fire and dominated the Volleyroos, 25-23, 25-15, 25-7. They secured the first podium finish for a volleyball team of any gender in 63 years in an AVC-sanctioned tournament.
During the first set, the Volleyroos went on a run after being down 11-18, closing the gap to 23-24. The tight match resembled their first meeting in the elimination round where it ended well for Australia, which stole the first set.
This time, however, Sisi Rodina denied Australia’s hopes of stealing another first set and ended it with a back row hit to lead the game. From then on, the nationals were unstoppable and took the life out of their opponent.
Meanwhile, the happiest of them all was Philippines head coach Jorge de Brito. He was delighted to see the fruits of his players’ labor, as they had a short amount of time to prepare after the team was assembled.
“Really, I’m happy and I’m grateful,” he said. “I have no words to express how happy I am. Not just for myself, but for these guys. I told them at the beginning they deserve a lot. They really deserve it.”
“They fight every single day, since they were really young, to make history here. And now history has been made because of them because they trusted themselves today. They came through,” the coach said.
Angel Canino once again led the Philippine team’s offense, finishing with 14 points off of 13 attacks, and one ace. She was also named as the Best Opposite Spiker of the tournament, a position that’s new to her.
The ever-reliable Rondina backed it up with her own 13 points, along with Eya Laure and Thea Gagate’s 10 points apiece. Fifi Sharma made sure to pitch in, scoring seven points of her own.
Meanwhile, veteran setter Jia de Guzman, who manned their offensive flow, bagged the Best Setter award of the tournament.
De Guzman expressed hopes that the program will continue and build on this milestone for years to come. She believed that the team was on the right track, and that it would only get better if they were given more time to prepare.
“Well, this is a big milestone but at the same time, we also had milestones before hindi lang natin natuloy yung momentum so that’s what we’re praying for now,” said De Guzman.
“Hindi naman ito nagsimula sa amin na talaga. There were years before us also so sana po tuloy-tuloy po yung suporta para tuloy-tuloy rin po kami makapaglaro at makapag-improve as a team.”
Rewarded with incentives
Alas Pilipinas was acknowledged by the government and was awarded Php 200,000 each for their successful campaign in the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup.
The support came from Sen. Bong Go to recognize the team that has brought pride to the country.
“(Sen. Bong Go) expressed intent to provide financial support through the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC). This is amounting to Php 200k to each qualified athlete and coach of Alas Pilipinas,” said the senator’s staff, in an interview with Spin.ph.
Volleyball continues to gain interest and support from the sports community. With this milestone, they will undoubtedly gain more fans, motivating players to do better in future leagues.
