Alas Pilipinas captain Jia de Guzman sets up a play against New Zealand in the 2025 AVC Women's Volleyball Nations Cup, June 11, 2025 in Hanoi, Vietnam. Handout/AVC
(UPDATED) Alas Pilipinas is still in the hunt for a semifinals ticket in the 2025 AVC Women's Volleyball Nations Cup after taking care of business against New Zealand on Wednesday in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Eya Laure led the way as the Filipinas swept the Volley Ferns, 25-17, 25-21, 25-18, to improve to 3-1 in Pool B of the competition.
It was a strong response from Alas Pilipinas after their painful five-set defeat to Iran last Monday. The team will wrap up their pool play schedule on Thursday against unbeaten Kazakhstan, in a match that may just decide their path for the next round of the competition.
"We never came here to only play," coach Jorge Edson Souza de Brito said. "We're going to learn, but what's best about this game is we can learn [while] winning."
Laure and Vanie Gandler each scored 12 points for the Philippines, while Alyssa Solomon marked her return to action by firing 11 points. The National University star had missed their game against Iran due to an akle injury.
Alas uncorked four aces against New Zealand to win the opening set comfortably, but encountered more resistance in the second frame despite surging to a 5-0 start.
Three straight aces by Brieana Crosbie and a Laure error knotted the count at 18, and both teams exchanged hits from there with a block on Solomon forcing a 20-all deadlock.
But Laure came through in crunch time, firing two aces to anchor a 5-1 closing run for the Philippines that was capped by a huge hit from the middle by Dell Palomata off a one-handed set-up by skipper Jia de Guzman.
Alas Pilipinas went on to erase an early 1-4 deficit in the third frame before pouncing on late errors by New Zealand to wrap up the victory in straight sets.
De Guzman was pleased with how they responded to their loss to Iran, wherein the Philippines squandered a 2-1 set advantage and a late lead in the fifth set.
"After our loss to Iran [Monday], we weren't sad," de Guzman said. "We knew what we needed to improve and we got to know how to improve on our weaknesses."
"It showed in this match [New Zealand] that we remain motivated and inspired, we were all excited to play," she said. "We're here to fight for a spot in the semifinals and the scores showed our optimism."
De Brito rested the high-scoring pair of Angel Canino and Shaina Nitura in the game, while three-time UAAP Most Valuable Player Bella Belen only saw action briefly in the second set.
Charlton Vail had 11 points for New Zealand, which dropped to 1-3 and is now out of contention for a semis berth.
Only the top two teams in each pool will advance to the semifinals, with the rest figuring in classification matches to determine their final ranking.