Alas Pilipinas women fall to Vietnam, set for SEA Games bronze match
SCHEDULE: Alas Pilipinas at SEA Games 2025 volleyball
Alas Pilipinas women during their game against Vietnam in the SEA Games 2025 volleyball tournament in Thailand. –POC MEDIA POOL
MANILA, Philippines — Alas Pilipinas was relegated to the bronze medal match in the women’s volleyball after getting swept by Vietnam, 17-25, 14-25, 17-25, in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games semifinal on Sunday at Indoor Stadium Huamark in Bangkok.
Tran Thi Thanh Thuy and the Vietnamese team overcame a strong start from Alas before dominating the rest of the match to advance to the SEA Games final.
Alas is still on track to end a 20-year medal drought with a battle for third place on Monday at 4 p.m. (Philippine time) against the loser of the Thailand-Indonesia semifinal.
The Philippines will be playing its fifth straight bronze medal match and it hopes to overcome the fourth-place hump this time.
“I don’t have any doubts that our team, all of the players, and also, the fans know that we’re gonna fight for this,” said Alas Pilipinas coach Jorge Souza De Brito after the loss.
Alas Pilipinas women’s Shaina Nitura during their game against Vietnam in the SEA Games 2025 volleyball tournament in Thailand. –POC MEDIA POOL
Alyssa Solomon and Angel Canino still led Alas with 10 and nine points, respectively. Eya Laure made her 2025 biennial meet debut from an abdominal strain and scored five of her seven points in the third set, but it wasn’t enough to mount a comeback.
New players stepped up for Alas with Shaina Nitura and Amie Provido giving Alas a 14-12 lead in the opening set. However, errors committed by the team and Tran’s crucial blows turned the tables for a 21-15 lead for Vietnam.
Belle Belen came off the bench to stop the bleeding, followed by Canino’s down-the-line hit to cut it down to four. However, the Vietnamese regained momentum and scored four straight points to draw first blood.
Provido had three blocks to finish with six points. Nitura added four, as Jia De Guzman continued to lead and run the plays of Alas.
Vietnamese continued to dominate the match in Set 2 with a 16-9 start, where Eya Laure had her moments only for Vietnam to complete an 11-point rout.
Laure started in the third and scored the timely hits, but Vietnam was too strong, building a 17-10 margin. Laure scored the last point for Alas off the block. But the reigning silver medalist delivered the knockout blow to complete the sweep.
Vietnam, which has claimed silver in 11 of the last 12 SEA Games, hopes to finally win a gold.
Tran had a game-high 15 points, while Vi Thi Nhu Quynh backstopped their world-class spiker with 13 points.
