By NIKOLE JAVIER
After a historic run, Alas Pilipinas fell short of reaching the Finals of the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup against Kazakhstan, 23-25, 21-25, 14-25, in their semifinal battle on Tuesday night, May 28, at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
The Filipinas put up a good fight before eventually running out of steam against the taller Kazakhs in the third set.
After trailing for most of the game, the Jia Morado De Guzman-captained Philippines staged comeback attempts but just couldn’t quite find the winning gap.
Arah Panique, who came in for the Philippines which was trailing big in the opening set, tallied a team-high 14 points highlighted by 10 attacks in the sorry loss at home.
In front of the expectant home crowd, the Philippines nearly crawled out of a huge 10-21 hole following late call-up Panique’s fine showing in the first set that saw her tally six points.
Angel Canino, for her part, had her tournament-low performance of nine points all on kills made after also sitting out their previous match against Chinese Taipei.
From being outside hitters, Panique and Canino both had to be converted into opposite spikers to fill the void in the rotation.
Meanwhile, Sana Anarkulova delivered a game-high 19 points after flexing her offensive might with 18 attacks in the upset victory.
The Jorge de Brito-coached Philippines dominated its preliminary campaign to advance to their first-ever AVC-sanctioned semifinal, while Kazakhstan finished as the second seed in Pool B which arranged their crossover playoffs.
In the other semifinal pairing, Pool B’s No. 1 seed Vietnam made quick work of Australia to book the first Finals seat.
The loss relegated the Philippines into the battle for third against Australia on Wednesday, May 29, at 4 p.m.
