Alas brings home historic silver even after bowing to Vietnam in AVC Nations Cup

June 16 ------ SILVER will still shine like gold tonight for Philippine volleyball. Alas Pilipinas Women bowed down to powerhouse host nation Vietnam, 15-25, 17-25, 14-25, in the 2025 AVC Women’s Volleyball Nations Cup final in Hanoi. Even so, the Philippines formally secured its best finish in an AVC tournament, men or women, in 64 years since the national volleyball federation’s inception in 1961.

The total medal count of Filipino women’s volleyball in international play also rose to 19 by winning its first Asian silver medal since the 1997 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Indonesia. Vietnam completed the Nations Cup three-peat by punishing Alas’ shaky defense right off the bat. Its towering one-two punch in Nguyen Thi Bich Tuyen and Tranh Thi Thanh Thuy (T4) hardly broke a sweat and had the scoring front covered with 20 and 17 points, respectively.

The first two sets saw the Philippines throwing steady counter-punches, only to be doused by the Vietnamese's explosive scoring runs which included an 11-3 first-set spree and a pivotal 7-0 blitz midway through Set 2. Alas head coach Jorge Souza de Brito was forced into making more than a few player shuffles than usual in a last-gasp bid to stay in gold medal contention, with the likes of Shaina Nitura, Vanie Gandler, and Julia Coronel entering the fray.

In the end, Asia's fourth-ranked women's volleyball team was much too good for an up-and-coming Filipino side in yet another show of continental brilliance on home soil. Alyssa Solomon paced the silver-clinching loss for the nationals with eight markers ahead of Nitura's six-piece off the bench. Bella Belen was held to just one point along with four digs and five receptions behind Angel Canino's four markers and a dig and a reception in her brief cameo.

Alas won’t be leaving Vietnamese shores anytime soon, as its next tour of duty will be in the 2025 VTV Cup from June 28 to July 5 in Vinh Phuc. There, the Philippines and Vietnam will cross paths again in Pool A of the tournament along with Australia and China’s Sichuan Women's Volleyball Club. As far as head-to-head matchups go, the Vietnamese have now beaten their neighbors for the sixth straight occasion in international play — four of the last five being straight-set wins.

The last time the Filipinos thwarted the Southeast Asian power was back in 2019 during both legs of the Asean Grand Prix, which included a five-set win in Leg 1 in Thailand an a shock sweep in Leg 2 in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Source: spin.ph