CANDON, Ilocos Sur — For Alas Pilipinas captain Alyssa Valdez, answering the call of the flag remains a responsibility she carries with utmost pride and purpose.
The Philippine women’s volleyball national team wrapped up its pool play campaign in the 2026 Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Women’s Cup with a 2-3 win-loss record, ending on a sour note after a straight-set defeat to Taiwan, 25-16, 25-14, 25-10, on Thursday afternoon.
Despite limited preparation time brought about by challenges within the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF), the 32-year-old Valdez emphasized that representing the country outweighs any adversity the team faces.
“One thing that we are proud of is to actually represent the country, despite all the things that are happening everywhere, despite the noise. We’re just very, very happy. Especially, we’re looking forward, and we hope that the young players will continue fighting for the country,” Valdez said after the loss.
Alas Pilipinas struggled offensively, with no player reaching double digits in scoring. Alyssa Solomon paced the team with six points, while Ces Molina and Niña Ytang chipped in three points apiece.
Taiwan proved dominant throughout the match, anchored by Hsu Wan-Yu and Tsai Yan-Cheng, who delivered 14 and 13 points, respectively, to complete the win in just 68 minutes.
With expectations high following the Philippines’ historic silver medal finish in the 2025 AVC Nations Cup, interim head coach Shaq Delos Santos acknowledged the importance of adequate preparation moving forward.
“We need more time, but we also need to accept that this could happen. But we will never lose hope, since we want our volleyball to be better,” he said.
Alas Pilipinas will now await the result of the Australia-South Korea matchup to determine whether it will compete for fifth or seventh place in the classification round on Saturday.
