THE Alas Pilipinas national women’s volleyball team has come a long way to achieve its goals and the Filipina spikers won’t stop until they hit pay dirt.
The grind continues for Alas which is hoping to gain more improvement after its stint in the recently concluded FIVB Volleyball Challenger Cup in Manila.
The Nationals fell in the quarterfinals of the eight-nation contest, yielding to Southeast Asian neighbor and eventual bronze medalist Vietnam last Friday.
“Iyon nga, I think individually, marami pa kaming kailangan i-improve and as a team. So, si coach naman has always told us many times to be patient with ourselves, and with the team,” skipper Jia De Guzman said.
“With Vietnam naman and more experienced teams, ganito din naman iyong pinagdaanan nila dati. It’s just they really stuck together all throughout these years so iyon din ang kailangan din namin gawin,” she added.
Wing spiker and rising star Angel Canino also shared the same sentiments, insisting the lessons that Alas gained from playing in the competition that served as a qualifying tournament for the 2025 Volleyball Nations League are invaluable.
“We all did our best and we’re sad about the result but at the same time happy kasi we learned something. We’re happy kasi we know na ibinigay po namin iyong best namin and gaya lang ng sinasabi ko wala namang talo na hindi ka uuwi na talo,” Canino said.
“Kasi you learned something, you always learned something and especially now kasi Vietnam iyong nakalaban namin so parang feeling namin we know we’re we at and kung ano pa iyong kailangan namin i-improve as a team.”
Alas will see action in the Southeast Asian V.League against powerhouse and defending champion Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
“SEA V.League, paghahandaan pa ng team and siyempre nilo-look forward namin to give our best always, to put our A-effort sa game kasi siyempre another opportunity for us to learn, another opportunity ng team for us to showcase our talents,” Canino said.
“Sa SEA V League, ganoon din naman, makakalaban natin iyong mga teams na nakakalaban natin sa SEA Games. It’s the same. After today’s game, we go back to the drawing board, we go back to training, improve what we can from this game, individually and as a team,” added De Guzman.
