Ace

Whoever coined Alas Pilipinas for the women’s volleyball team aced it. Sounds good, sounds Filipino, sounds like a winner. And they did win. The hastily formed national team of professional and collegiate players podium finished in the Asian Volleyball Confederation Challenge Cup for Women last month. Best place ever for Filipinos in tournament history.

Amazing, virtual strangers to each other’s style of play jelled in such a short time. Instant chemistry. Like love at first sight. Or lust. They pulled an upset in their pool, swept the preliminaries, including the taller Australian team which height averaged half an inch shy of six feet. But the strength, speed and flight of the Filipinas made up for their lack of height. Yes, flight. Not fight. These women suspend their body of a soldier midair, over and above the net.

Against the taller, stronger and higher ranked Kazakshtan team however, the Filipinas bowed out in the semis, the farthest any Philippine team has gone, men or women. But not without a fight. This time, it is fight, neither flight nor freight. Especially in the first set where they crawled back to recover a huge deficit. Not quite, by then it was too late.

Hungrier, the Filipina aces aced the rematch against Australia for third place. Already, experts and fans claim women’s volleyball reached its golden age. Seemingly. The bronze felt like gold. Too bad they lost the chance to play eventual champion Vietnam for the crown. It could have measured their capacity against the regional powerhouse. The Vietnamese dominated the finals, even in the absence of the much-vaunted T4. Depth. Not the name, it’s kilometric. But the bench.

Just as Alas Pilipinas omitted Alyssa Valdez. Many reacted. Why no phenom, the antidote to foreign venom. But her lengthy exposure and experience makes her powerful attacks predictable. This must have been the wisdom for her omission. Scouted. Regardless, the Filipinas delivered the unexpected. And in the process, they moved up eight places in world rankings, although still behind Vietnam and Thailand.

Largely because of one Jia Morado, now De Guzman, the leader who sets up to pierce the blockers in conspiracy with decoys Thea Gagate and Fifi Sharma. Only for the lurking Eya Laure, Angel Canino and the winged Sisi Rondina to ambush. Premeditation. All of 5’6”, the Cebuana is dwarfed by the towering blockers. But their wall falls each time Sisi finishes the point De Guzman constructed. Cunning, Jia knows where they are, opponents or teammates, even without looking. In social media, it is called algorithm. Elsewhere, it is called profiling.