SCHEDULE: Alas Pilipinas at the AVC Challenge Cup 2024
India players during their game against Chinese Taipei in the AVC Challenge Cup 2024. –VOLLEYBALL PH PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — India earned its second win in Pool A, dominating Chinese Taipei, 25-19, 25-13, 25-16, ahead of its duel against the home team, Alas Pilipinas, in the AVC Challenge Cup on Thursday at Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
Soorya Soorya imposed her will at the frontline, tallying eight of the team’s 14 blocks to finish with a game-high 15 points to stay unbeaten in Pool B following their opening day win over Iran.
“I’m feeling very happy that we won and we are hoping that we can get more wins. Our teammates are very supportive and our coaches, the India audience are very supportive. This time, we’re gonna win this tournament,” said Soorya as only the top two teams of each group will advance to the semifinals next week.
READ: AVC Cup: Australia opens with win, faces Alas Pilipinas next
The Indian middle blocker braces for Alas Pilipinas, which is expected to draw an ecstatic home crowd on Friday at 7 p.m.
“Playing against the home team is very difficult because the audience support will go to the Philippines. But we will try to compensate for that,” Soorya said.
Besides Soorya, Anusree Kambrath Poyilil delivered 13 points, all coming from her 22 attack attempts. Radha Anagha delivered seven points, while Shilpa Rajendrandnair and Shaalini Saravanan added six points each with the latter nailing four blocks.
Chinese Taipei, which lost to Australia Wednesday night, dropped to a 0-2 record with Hsu Fang-Min being the lone scorer with 10 points.
In Pool B, Hong Kong vented its ire on the debuting Indonesia, 25-22, 26-24, 25-18, to improve to a 1-1 record.
Wing Lam Chim and Lam Shum led Hong Kong with 18 points each. Wing Ni Yim chipped in nine points as they bounced back from a tough loss to defending champion Vietnam less than 24 hours ago.
“We’re really happy because it’s one of our targets — we want to win [against] Indonesia. We know that they’re not the full team because they only have 11 players so this is our target match,” said skipper Ying Chi Yu, who contributed seven points.
“I think we have to learn from set 2, we cannot do the same [thing] in [our] upcoming match, Singapore, which is our target as well. We will focus on other strategies versus Singapore. We’ll definitely focus on serving and receiving as well which is the key of our team.”
Indonesia, which fielded a young team, dropped its first Pool B match with Sabrina Agustina leading the charge with 12 points.
Meanwhile, defending champion Vietnam took a 2-0 lead in Pool B after routing Singapore, 25-8, 29-27, 25-10.
Thi Bich Tuyen Nguyen sustained her fine form in leading the Vietnamese with 13 points. Thi Tra My Nguyen added nine points to keep their team unbeaten.
Singapore remained winless in two games as it held its breath for skipper Rachel Lau, who injured her left knee in the second set off an awkward landing.