CANDON, Ilocos Sur — Alas Pilipinas suffered a heartbreaking loss to the young and tall Australia side in the 2026 Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Cup, but there is no point in residing with the defeat.
After all, this national team is devoid of the core of decorated setter Jia de Guzman and UAAP three-time MVP Bella Belen who refused to suit up for the national team.
Still, Alas showed that they are all about business and choose to keep their focus on fighting for the flag despite the controversies hounding the national team.
In the 2024 and 2025 editions of AVC Cup, the Philippines has never lost to Australia.
Team captain Alyza Valdez expressed that they need more team chemistry since they have short period of time for preparation.
“Definitely, we still need more team chemistry, and we have a lot of lapses when it comes to small balls. Our free balls, we can’t convert them,” she said after a 25-22, 23-25, 18-25, 25-15, 15-11 loss to Australia.
“We fell short, but we know that we still have a lot to learn as a team, and hopefully, while the tournament goes on, and hopefully we can apply this to our upcoming games,” she added.
The then Alas lineup, who all played for the 2025 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, skipped playing for the AVC Cup.
Despite the loss, there was a bright silver lining: 24-year-old Alyssa Solomon, who withdrew from the 2026 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Rookie Draft to focus on the national team, led the scoring with 23 points.
The young gunner vowed to bounce back stronger for Team Philippines.
“I’m still proud of what we showed out there. We can learn a lot from this match, and I’m looking forward to improving in the next game. We’ve only been together for a few weeks,” said Valdez. NICOLE ANNE BUGAUISAN
