Alas comes up short against Aussies despite big games from Alyssas

Alyssa Solomon scores 23 points in narrow loss.—MARLO CUETO

CANDON CITY—Alyssa Solomon and Alyssa Valdez tried carrying the cudgels for Alas Pilipininas on Sunday, only for the gallant Filipinos to come up just short against tall Australia, yielding a tough 22-25, 25-23, 25-18, 15-25, 11-15 loss in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Women’s Cup on Sunday at Candon City Arena.

Alas turned to the two Alyssas, with Solomon making her national team comeback with 23 points off 22 kills and a block. And when it mattered most, Valdez kept the Philippines afloat in the fifth set only for the Filipinos to eventually slump to a 1-1 record in Pool A.

“I’m still proud of what happened, because we learned a lot from this game,” said Solomon in Filipino. “We’ll continue to improve since we’ve only been together for a few weeks. We’ll use this experience to grow closer as a team and keep getting better for the games ahead.”

Valdez finished with 11 points on a 23-percent attacking clip and stressed that they need to continue working on their chemistry. The new look national team, composed of newcomers and veterans, only had a few weeks to prepare for the continental tourney after the old core declared itself unavailable to play for the flag.

“It’s unfortunate,” Valdez said. “Hopefully, as the tournament goes on, we’ll be able to apply more of the lessons (in this loss) in our upcoming games.

“Definitely our team chemistry. We had a lot of lapses, especially on small-ball situations and free balls,” she answered when asked what problems she thinks the team needs to address. “Those are opportunities that don’t come often in a tournament like this, so we hope to polish those areas and correct them.”

The 6-foot-1 Solomon, who was part of last year’s silver medal run in the AVC campaign, was a late addition to the team after withdrawing from the PVL Draft.

“I wasn’t satisfied with my performance earlier, especially in the fourth set. I felt like I wasn’t able to contribute as much, and that’s something I really want to improve moving forward,” said Solomon, a former Osaka Marvelous import who sat out in Alas’ 25-16, 25-12, 25-14 sweep of Uzbekistan on Saturday.

Alas hopes to bounce back against Kyrgyzstan on Monday at 3 p.m. to keep its semis hopes alive, with only the top two from their group advancing to the next stage.

Caitlin O’Dea led the Aussies with 17 points. Maric had 16 points. Schabort and Anni Tang had 12 points each, while Chloe Walker added 10. INQ