Alas Pilipinas under-16 girls team pushed defending champion Japan to its limits before absorbing a 17-25, 25-21, 16-25, 20-25 loss in the 2nd AVC Asian Women’s U16 Volleyball Championship on Saturday at Princess Sumaya Hall here.
After getting dominated by Japan in the first set, Alas girls, composed of high school players from different provinces, never wavered and bounced back in the second frame, powered by Xyz Rayco and Nadeth Herbon. Merish Beltran also had her moment, helping Alas mount a 19-14 lead in the second set before Rayco and Jhenica Sadia put on the finishing touches to equalize the match. Japan caught fire in the third and dominated Alas to regain the lead, but the national youth team, inspired by the OFWs in Jordan watching and cheering for them, never gave up and even held a 12-9 advantage in the fourth off Madele Gale’s ace.
However, the trio of Ren Sugimoto, Miko Takahashi, and Rina Hayasaka restored the order for Japan.
After Sadia’s quick attack pulled the Philippines within one, 21-20, Japan responded with four consecutive points, capped by back-to-back kills from Hayasaka to seal their first Pool B win.
‘I’m really happy with the kids’ performance. Considering we only had two weeks to prepare, they still did well. Unfortunately, some of them started to feel the effects of overtraining, so a few were hurting and a bit worn out,’ said Alas coach Edwin Leyva. ‘But overall, the team’s performance was impressive, and it turned out even better than we expected.’
‘The team jelled quickly. It wasn’t like what we feared at first, that they might struggle to connect since they came from different places. Our main issue before was communication because of the different dialects, but they managed it well. They played great, and I’m very happy with how they performed,’ he added. Rayco and Herbon led Alas with nine points each. Gale and Beltran had six points apiece, while Sadia had three.
Alas seeks to bounce back in a must-win game against Iran on Sunday, 11 p.m. (Manila time) to make it to the quarterfinal. ‘We’ll apply everything we learned in Japan in our next game because we know it’s still going to be a tough fight. We’ll keep giving our all and keep fighting until the end,’ Rayco said.
Sugimoto and Takahashi powered Japan with 16 points each. Hayasaka had 13 points. Kana Mizuno and Nozaki also stepped up with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Japan goes for a group sweep against Iran on Monday.