Alas Pilipinas Women at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games. Photo from AVC/Asian Games
Alas Pilipinas Women were ousted by Kazakhstan from medal contention, going 0-2 in the preliminaries, 29-27, 24-26, 23-25, 19-25, in the women's volleyball tournament of the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games on Thursday.
They will now play in the classification round.
It was a spirited stand for the Nationals, most especially for Angel Canino, who breathed life into the Philippine team's hopes of entering the quarterfinals, although her efforts were for naught.
Canino erupted with a game-high 24 points on 20 attacks, two blocks, and two aces, while Alyssa Solomon was also there with a 20-point outing built on 15 spikes, four rejections on the net, and one conversion from the service line.
READ: Alas Women fall to defending champ China in straight sets to open Asiad campaign
Eya Laure, who had her moments, finished with seven attack points, while Bella Belen had four.
In a cardiac finish in the opening frame, Laure and Canino found the clutch kills that tied the match at 24-apiece, saving two set points from a 24-22 count, and even led at 25-24. The Kazakhs won't go down easily, trading points with Alas Women until the 27-all mark.
That's when Canino and Laure rose once again with the sharp kills, snatching Set 1 for a 1-0 lead.
Down by as much as seven in Set 2, 22-15, Solomon sparked a gutsy comeback as the Filipina spikers tied at 24-apiece and made it an extended frame once more.
However, that was the limit of Alas Women's comeback, as Polina Ufimtseva nailed an attack, and an error from the Nationals conceded the set for a 1-1 score line.
Playing catch up once more in the third period, the Nationals fell behind by as much as seven early, 14-7, but they gradually trimmed that lead down and eventually tied at 19-all, thanks in large part to Canino's spiking and some of Kazakhs errors.
The opposing side raced to a 23-21 edge, after a Laure overpass on an Alas miscommunication, but the University of Santo Tomas product made up for it with a kill, as Gagate knotted things up at 23-all.
Unfortunately for Alas Women, their stand fell short again, as Zhanna Syroyeshkina's attack and Ufimtseva's ace closed out the third set, 25-23.
The Kazakhs found the pull away in the final frame, and eventually clinched the quarterfinals berth.