After setting new PH milestone, Alas girls look to stretch run

Caera Celis and Alas Pilipinas Girls players celebrate a point against Venezuela in the FIVB Girls U17 World Championship in Chile.-Alas Girls made history by becoming the first Philippine team to reach the round of 16 of a volleyball world championship.–VOLLEYBALL WORLD PHOTO

Alas Pilipinas will try to make the most of its historic run to the round of 16 of the FIVB Girls’ U17 World Championship.

The Philippine youth volleyball team became the first squad from the country to reach this stage of a world championship, and is looking to extend that historic run when it faces South Korea on Thursday at 8 a.m. in Los Andes, Chile.

The Philippines advanced despite closing the preliminary round with a 25-19, 25-16, 22-25, 19-25, 15-11 loss to Venezuela, with its spirited comeback from two sets down proving enough to send the Filipinas into the knockout stage.

Alas finished the preliminary round with a 2-3 record, the same record as Mexico. But the Filipino girls edged the Mexicans in points, 7-6, after earning a point for pushing Venezuela to five sets.

The young Alas squad finished a notch better than the Philippine men’s team led by Bryan Bagunas and Marck Espejo, which narrowly missed the round of 16 after a heartbreaking five-set loss to Iran in last year’s FIVB World Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The girls are also assured of finishing better than the 1974 women’s squad, which placed 18th in the World Championship in Mexico.

Caera Celis and Xyz Rayco sparked the comeback against Venezuela, with Celis matching her tournament-high 24 points on 22 kills and two aces. Rayco added 19 points from 17 attacks, a block and an ace.

But taking Alas’ current run won’t be easy.

The Filipinos will face a formidable South Korean side that swept its five matches in Pool D behind Son Seo-yeon, who averaged 19.4 points per game and produced a tournament-best 28-point performance.

Son and the Koreans also ruled last year’s AVC U16 tournament in Amman, Jordan.

Despite ending pool play on a two-match skid, Alas coach Edwin Leyva was pleased with the maturity and fight his players showed against world-class opposition.

“China is clearly on a different level. But against the rest of the pool, I believed we had a chance, if only we had more time to train and gel,” Leyva said. “Still, they’ve matured a lot playing matches at this level.”

Team manager Karl Chan hopes this group—which also includes Irish Mahinay, Nadeth Herbon, Sharina Lleses, Madele Gale and Jhaynna Bulandres—can stay together and eventually form part of the country’s senior national team.

“It’s fulfilling to see these kids succeed and achieve more, because it’s the start of their journey in international volleyball,” Chan said. “We’re looking forward to seeing these 14 players be future national team players at the senior level.”