Alas women to ‘stay in the process’ in KO match with old nemesis
Alas Pilipinas captain Jia De Guzman is keeping a tight focus on internal expectations as the team faces another world-caliber regional rival in a knockout game on Sunday in the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games women’s volleyball tournament at Indoor Stadium Huamark in Bangkok.
The quest to end a 20-year medal drought continues for Alas after splitting its first two games in Pool A and the Filipinos are about to run into a truly formidable foe in Vietnam, which hasn’t dropped a set while winning all three of its games in the other bracket.
“Every time I step onto the court with the national team, I’m always motivated because the only expectations that matter to us are really the ones inside the team,” De Guzman said. “Family and supporters outside, people outside of our team, we will take their love and support. But the expectations we keep in the team.
“So we do our best to stay grounded and just stick with and trust coach Jorge’s system and stay in the process.”
A 25-13, 25-8, 25-18 sweep of Singapore—which came after a straight-sets loss to regional power Thailand—also gave the Filipinos their “Alas” groove back, the same groove that has allowed them to medal consistently since last year in SEA tournaments.
“We were able to get more loose, get more comfortable coming into the game [against Singapore],” said De Guzman, a two-time AVC Nations Cup Best Setter. “And that’s really what we were looking for—to get our groove back as Alas.
“Since we had very little preparation, this was our way of getting back into the rhythm of being Alas Pilipinas,” she added. “So we’ll be riding into the next round with this momentum.”
Team Philippines hasn’t medaled in the SEA Games since 2005 and snapping that drought hinges on De Guzman getting the team’s young offensive core to hum on all cylinders, starting with the Vietnamese.
Led by world-class spiker Tran Thi Thanh Thuy, Vietnam is coming off a 25-20, 25-15, 25-19 rout of consistent bronze medalist Indonesia on Friday night.
A win over Vietnam—which has claimed silver in 11 of the 12 SEA Games that staged women’s volleyball—would guarantee at least another silver medal, end a long drought and set up another showdown with Thailand, which hasn’t lost a game in the tournament since 1993.
That “Alas” groove De Guzman talked about must come to the fore if the Filipinos are to make this their year.
