Alas Pilipinas Women secured ninth place in the women’s volleyball event of the 20th Asian Games after surviving a late Hong Kong fightback, 25-21, 25-9, 30-28, on Tuesday at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park in Japan.
The Philippines looked headed for a dominant sweep after limiting Hong Kong to just nine points in the second set, but the hosts of the classification match fought back fiercely in the third, pushing the Filipinas to the brink before Bella Belen’s late heroics sealed the victory.
Hong Kong threatened to force a fourth set when Wong Wan Wun executed a perfectly placed 1-2 play to put her side at set point, 24-23. Angel Canino, however, refused to let Alas Pilipinas falter, firing an off-the-block attack to level the set at 24-all.
The Filipinas then weathered a tense stretch, saving five consecutive set points to keep their campaign alive before Belen eventually took over. The outside hitter hammered three straight attacks to close out the straight-set victory in one hour and 24 minutes.
Belen turned in her best performance of the Asian Games, finishing with 18 points on 16 attacks, one block, and one ace, while also recording 10 excellent digs. Canino added 17 points and 12 excellent digs.
Alyssa Solomon chipped in 11 points to join Belen and Canino in double figures for the Filipinas, who finished one spot behind the eighth-place showing of the Jaja Santiago-Minowa and Alyssa Valdez-led team in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2018.
Still, it was a strong finish for Alas Pilipinas Women, who were eliminated in the group stage after back-to-back losses to defending champion China and Kazakhstan before closing the classification phase with three consecutive victories over Qatar, Mongolia, and Hong Kong.
Hong Kong, meanwhile, settled for 10th place in the 14-team tournament.
Shum Lam and Chim Wing Lam led Hong Kong with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
