Alas Pilipinas Girls end historic U17 Worlds bid in 15th place

Alas Pilipinas Girls end their FIVB U17 World Championship campaign with a win over Czechia.–VOLLEYBALL WORLD PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Alas Pilipinas Girls finished their FIVB Girls’ U17 World Championship debut with a historic 15th-place finish after nipping Czechia, 21-25, 25-22, 25-14, 25-22, on Sunday night (Philippine time) in Santiago, Chile.

The national youth team averted a slow start and turned to its best scorer throughout the campaign, Caera Celis, who capped her stellar debut with 25 points built on 20 attacks, four aces, and a block.

The Czechs erased Alas’ 23-19 lead in the fourth after Celis committed back-to-back errors that led to a one-point deficit, but the pride of Bacolod stayed determined to make up for her mistakes, sending her team to match point, 24-22.

READ: After another loss, Alas Girls aim to end U17 Worlds on high note

Celis delivered an off-the-block kill to seal the win, as Alas Girls placed 15th out of 32 nations — the best stint of a Philippine national volleyball squad in the World Championship.

Jhaynna Bulandres also dominated the frontline with six blocks to finish with 15 points. Setter Irish Mahinay fired five aces for nine points on top of her playmaking duty, while Sharina Lleses nailed the timely hits in the fourth set and ended up with eight points.

Alas ended a five-game skid to finish its campaign. The Philippines got a historic round-of-16 entry after a 2-3 record in Pool B, but fell to South Korea in the knockout round.

The young Nationals dropped their two classification matches to Japan and Venezuela.

Czechia placed 16th in the tournament, with Michaela Capova and Viktoria Mertova leading the way with 15 and 13 points, respectively. Eliska Mandova added 11.