Valdez hopes PH can build on confidence-boosting AVC opener

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

BIÑAN, Laguna—The Philippines took an emphatic opening game win in the AVC Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship on Wednesday, and talisman Alyssa Valdez hopes the Filipinos could to build on that confidence-booster in the coming days of the tournament.

“We’re really getting our confidence and we’re hoping we can bring this confidence to the future games and of course this is also in preparation for the Southeast Asian Games,” said Valdez at Ynares Sports Arena.

Valdez was a picture of confidence in the Philippines’ first game with her game-high 14 points on 13 of 21 spikes.

The opening win over Hong Kong, she said, was just a part of the process they’re looking to fulfill in the tournament.

The Philippines’ 1-0 puts them at an early position atop Pool A and another win will see them strut to the quarterfinals.

“We have a bigger goal, and the whole team’s mindset is to achieve that bigger goal of advancing,” said Valdez. “We really have to take it one game at a time.”

“This game was really for our country. We really wanted to show everyone that we’ve prepared hard for this tournament while we were in Japan and now that we’re here we’re also preparing for the SEA Games.”