Jia De Guzman and Alas Pilipinas felt the crowd support all the way to Vietnam in the AVC Nations Cup.
An established system proved to be the difference maker as Alas Pilipinas leaned on what they know best to beat Mongolia in their first game of the AVC Nations Cup in Vietnam on Saturday.
Mongolia, who actually pulled out of the competition last year, was less scouted than most of the other teams in Alas’ group, leaving the national team practically blind heading into the tournament opener.
But after a successful sweep, skipper Jia De Guzman said that it boiled down to their team’s identity and the game plan as a whole, allowing Alas Pilipinas to work things out against their unfamiliar foes.
“Actually, we were going in blind talaga today kasi the latest video we could find from their games, last year pa eh, so nag-rely lang talaga kami sa training and sa system namin today. Thankfully, it went our way,” De Guzman told One Sports.
The veteran setter led the offense, with nine different Alas players finishing with points to their name.
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Their all-around team offense ended up with Alas taking match in dominant fashion, 25-18, 25-16, 25-14.
Coming off of their campaign last year where they won a historic bronze medal in Manila, Alas Pilipinas also saw a sizeable Filipino crowd even though they were playing overseas.
With a number of OFWs in attendance, along with others who flew from Manila, the match felt like a home game for De Guzman and company. For their unwavering support, the national team captain couldn’t help but feel in awe.
“Nakakataba ng puso kasi we didn’t expect na magkaka-Filipino crowd and it’s always a joy to play for people who love and support no matter where you are in the world. So thank you talaga sa Philippine community,” she said.
Now though, the job only gets tougher as they face Indonesia in their next Pool B assignment.
With a short turnaround as they play again on Sunday, De Guzman hopes they can get enough information this time and recover well to get a good result.
“Well, of course, we have to recover after today’s game first. We’re going to stay here and watch probably a set or two of Indonesia so we know what we’re going against tomorrow and yun lang, the coaches are just asking us to trust the system and trust each other,” she said.
“So let’s just see tomorrow what happens,” Jia added.
(With reports from Mei-Lin Lozada)