By NIKOLE JAVIER
Alas Pilipinas seeks to extend its historic run when it clashes with Kazakhstan in the semifinals of the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup for Women on Tuesday, May 28, at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
Match is at 7 p.m. with the Nationals banking on their impressive performance in the preliminaries, where they took the top seeding in Pool A with a clean 4-0 record.
Despite their short preparation in this tournament, the PH spikers made heads turn by crushing their rivals Australia, India, Iran, and just last Sunday, May 26, Chinese Taipei, for a historic first trip to the semis in any AVC-sanctioned event.
So far, they have only dropped two sets in four matches.
But the Nationals can’t afford to relax, especially against the taller Kazakhs, who took the No. 2 seeding in Pool B after finishing the preliminaries with a 3-1 record.
“Kazakhstan is a very strong team. Very tall also. Medyo nakaranas naman kami ng malakas at matangkad na team in our bracket,” said PH skipper and veteran setter Jia De Guzman.
“Kami naman talaga yung goal namin is to get it one game at a time. Wala kaming iniiwasan, wala kaming hinahanap na kalaban. Kahit sinong makakalaban namin magiging challenge for us,” she added.
Coming off a stint in the Japan V.League, De Guzman wowed the crowd and caught their rivals flat-footed with variety of plays to showcase the depth of their lineup much to the delight of the fans.
“It feels great. Sobrang proud ko sa naabot ng team namin. Hindi madali ang pinagdaanan namin at hindi magiging madali ang pagdadaanan pa namin, I’m sure. Kasi ibang laban na rin ang semifinals, so we’re just going in with a positive mindset,” said De Guzman.
PH team coach Jorge De Brito would have no problem in shuffling his stalwarts as everybody has been stepping up when called to play even Angel Canino, Faith Nisperos and Vanie Gandler.
They have been providing Sisi Rondina and Eya Laure the needed offensive might
with middle blocker Fifi Sharma, Cherry Nunag and Dawn Catindig taking charge in other departments.
“Well, the bench is pretty deep. Kahit sino sa amin ready pumasok at ready mag deliver. Kahit si Julia Coronel as a setter, so it’s good for us kasi we’re a bit more unpredictable para sa kalaban,” De Guzman said.
A victory for the Nationals would arrange them a championship date with the winner between defending champion Vietnam and Australia, who will battling in the other semis pairing at 4 p.m.
