ALAS Pilipinas showed nerves of steel as it turned back Southeast Asian rival Indonesia, 22-25, 25-23, 25-13, 28-26, on Sunday to remain unscathed in Pool B of the AVC Nations Cup in Hanoi, Vietnam.
After a sluggish, error-prone start, the Filipinas came roaring back from an opening-set loss and a 17-19 deficit in the next to knot the count at one apiece and then dominated the third frame to seize a 2-1 set lead.
They then denied the Indonesians their determined bid to extend the duel to a deciding fifth set by taking the fourth set and the match following key hits by Angel Canino and super rookie Shaina Nitura, whose devastating spike the opposing team couldn’t handle that sealed the deal.
The result thus sent the Nationals to the Pool B top spot alongside the tall, fearsome Kazakhs, who earlier smothered the Mogolians, 25-14, 24-26, 25-18, 25-15, with two wins each.
Ms. Canino ended up leading the way with 17 points, the same output of Alyssa Solomon, while Mhicaela “Bella” Belen chipped in 12 hits.
Ms. Nitura, the reigning UAAP rookie of the year who is tipped to become the future of Philippine volleyball, delivered a quality game with five points, including that match-sealing spike.
Alas will next square off with dangerous Iran on Monday, takes a much-needed breather on Tuesday before plunging back into action against New Zealand on Wednesday and Kazakhstan on Thursday. — Joey Villar
