<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CANDON CITY, Ilocos Sur \u2014 Alas Pilipinas fell to the brink of elimination in the 2026 Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Women\u2019s Cup after getting swept by powerhouse South Korea, 16-25, 18-25, 22-25, on Tuesday at Candon City Arena here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alas tried to turn to young guns Alyssa Solomon and Tots Carlos in the opening set then made adjustments, relying on Alyssa Valdez, Jovelyn Gonzaga, and Ces Molina \u2014 and even first-time national team campaigner Ara Galang, who played her heart out in the third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alyssa Solomon and Tots Carlos join Alas Pilipinas starters Ces Molina, Thea Gagate, Ni\u00f1a Ytang, Kyle Negrito, and libero Kyla Atienza vs South Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But none of those combinations by Alas interim coach Shaq Delos Santos could stop the Koreans, who are relegated to the Women\u2019s Cup after losing their spot in the Volleyball Nations League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It may be years late to put the tandem of Valdez and Galang, who headlined the Ateneo-La Salle storied rivalry in the UAAP a decade ago, but the veteran outside spikers led Alas\u2019 gallant stand in the third, where they even tok an 18-15 edge with Galang nailing the timely hits, followed by Valdez\u2019s back-to-back aces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Solomon gave Alas its last lead at 20-18. Before the Koreans, behind Kang Sowhi, nailed the telling blows to reach match point, 24-20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Galang and Ni\u00f1a Ytang saved points for the home squad before Lee Juah delivered the game-winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSayang,\u201d said Galang. \u201cBut I think we were able to keep up and stay close throughout the match. We just gave our best effort on that last point. It\u2019s just unfortunate that it didn\u2019t go our way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kang had her way, leading the Koreans with a game-high 19 points for a 3-0 record in Pool A. Juah and Na Hyunsoo added 12 each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alas dropped to a 2-2 record, needing to win its final Pool A game against Chinese Taipei (3-0) on Thursday at 3 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Philippines has a slim chance of advancing to the semifinals, needing to beat Taipei and another losing result from the latter against Korea in the AVC tournament presented by the PSC, POC, FIVB, Volleyball World and Candon City headed by Mayor Eric Singson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thea Gagate led Alas with nine points built on five attacks, three blocks and one ace. Ytang added eight points, while Valdez and Solomon chipped in seven apiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Galang finished with four points, all coming in the third set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CANDON CITY, Ilocos Sur \u2014 Alas Pilipinas fell to the brink of elimination in the 2026 Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Women\u2019s Cup after getting swept by powerhouse South Korea, 16-25, 18-25, 22-25, on Tuesday at Candon City Arena here. Alas tried to turn to young guns Alyssa Solomon and Tots Carlos in the opening set […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-415700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415700"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":415701,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415700\/revisions\/415701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}