Gutsy Filipina spikers fall to Chinese Taipei, post best finish in AVC Cup

MANILA, Philippines – On National Heroes Day, these gutsy Filipinas fittingly showed heroism worthy of a place in Philippine volleyball folklore.

Accomplishing what others before them have not, the Nationals delivered their proudest moment in Asian Volleyball Confederation Cup history by finishing sixth — the country’s best effort in the biennial meet.

Never mind that the host nation fell to an Asian power in Chinese Taipei, 28-26, 25-21, 25-21, in the battle for fifth place before an animated Filipino crowd who trooped to the PhilSports Arena Monday.

What mattered was these brave bunch of belles have proven worthy of representing the country despite the many challenges they faced — from fatigue, to lack of time to prepare, a missed game by coach Sherwin Meneses and captain Jia de Guzman due to health protocols, and the absence of its heart and soul Alyssa Valdez due to dengue.

The Filipinas, represented by reigning Premier Volleyball League Invitational titlist Creamline, also proved their doubters wrong as they surpassed the ninth place finish in the 2018 edition in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.

“Even if it’s just sixth place, the players did their best and we’re thankful of this opportunity,” said Meneses.

They left it all on the court in a dramatic, come-from-behind 21-25, 25-19, 19-25, 25-18, 15-12 win over the taller Australians the night before that there was nothing left to spare on this one against Taiwanese.

So spent was the team that Ced Domingo was the unlikely scoring leader with 12 points as Tots Carlos, Jema Galanza and Michele Gumabao, the top three scorers entering this game, finished with seven, eight and nine hits, respectively.

The Filipinas, however, tried.

But they were just a shell of themselves compared from the same group that slew the Koreans, the Iranians and the Aussies, made the mighty Chinese nervous, and stole a set from Southeast Asian powerhouse Thailand in the quarterfinals when nobody expected them to.

The squad gets a much-needed breather for a couple of days before returning to practice as it gears up for the four-nation ASEAN Grand Prix set September 9-11 in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand where they are hoping to exact revenge on the Thais and the Vietnamese — their conquerors here.

“We hope we made the country proud,” said De Guzman.

They just did.