Alas girls still upbeat after ugly setback

Ren Sichen (No. 9) towers over the Philippine double block. —FIVB PHOTO

The Alas Pilipinas Girls remained determined despite getting swept by world No.1 and defending champion China, 25-18, 25-21, 25-13, in their campaign opener in the FIVB Volleyball Girls U17 World Championship on Friday in San Felipe, Chile.

The national youth team may have absorbed a tough Worlds debut, but the young Filipino spikers showed a valiant effort in the second set, taking an 8-7 lead from Jhaynna Bulandres’ ace before the Chinese pulled away with a 21-15 spread.

Caera Celis refused to give up and sparked a 5-0 run to make it a one-point game, 21-20, only for China to close out the set and eventually dominate the third frame with a 12-point win.

Celis, who shone the brightest by leading all scorers with 13 points on 12 attacks and an ace, is eager to bounce back as they face Mexico on Saturday morning (Philippine time).

“Losses are part of competition; we have a lot of games to play,” Celis said. “We will bounce back.”

Alas Pilipinas coach Edwin Leyva, who steered the squad to a fifth-place finish in the AVC U16 Girls’ Championship in Amman, Jordan last year to qualify here, urged his players to move on right away and focus on defense, as they try to prove that they belong in the tournament.

“China is a very strong team, we can’t control that,” Leyva said. “We played poor defense, and that we can control (in our next games). So we have to focus on that during training.”