Alas Pilipinas Girls stood their ground and fended off a taller Iranian squad, 25-21, 25-22, 25-22, to advance to the next round of the 2nd Asian Women’s U16 Volleyball Championship early Monday morning (Philippine time) at the Princess Sumaya Hall.
Xyz Rayco took charge, delivering the finishing blows in the last two sets to lift the young Filipinas — composed of high school standouts from various provinces — to the quarterfinals in their first international tournament together.
Rayco, a 14-year-old spiker from Saint Michael College of Caraga, topscored with 13 points built on nine attacks, three blocks, and an ace — a strong bounce-back effort after their four-set loss to defending champion Japan.
“I’m really happy because we didn’t expect this. Iran is such a strong team, but we still found a way to win,” said Rayco. “We just kept a positive mindset on the court. Whatever we could do, we gave it our all.”
Madele Gale also rose to the occasion with nine points, including the game-winning joust, while Nadeth Herbon and Merish Beltran chipped in seven and six markers, respectively.
Setter Resty Jane Olaguir orchestrated the offense with composure, dedicating the victory to their Ates from the Alas U18 team, which lost to Iran in the Asian Youth Games semifinals in Bahrain last week.
“We did our best because we want to win it for our under-18 team, and we want to secure a spot in the next round,” said Olaguir, who impressed Japan’s head coach a day earlier.
The Philippines’ final standing in Pool B will depend on the result of the Japan-Iran match on Monday, with the defending champions aiming for a group sweep.
Alas will face either the top seed or second seed from Pool D — a battle between unbeaten squads Thailand and Chinese Taipei — also on Monday.
“We were hoping to at least take a set against Iran, and we started off with a good score. We just told ourselves to take it one set at a time. And it worked,” said Alas U16 head coach Edwin Leyva.
“From the first set to the second, we kept the momentum going. We honestly didn’t expect to win in straight sets because Iran is a strong and tall team.”
Now through to the quarterfinals, Alas Pilipinas aims to continue its dream run.
“The other teams are really good, but they’re definitely beatable. We just have to come up with the right game plan and strategies to outsmart their style of play,” added Leyva.
