Alas Pilipinas faltered late towards the resilient Iran to soak up its first loss within the 2025 AVC Ladies’s Volleyball Nations Cup, 25-16, 21-25, 26-24, 23-25, 13-15, on Monday on the Dong anh Gymnasium in Vietnam.
Having fun with a 2-1 set lead, the Filipinas mounted an enormous comeback try within the fourth set with Shaina Nitura and Vanie Gandler offering the activate the bench as they erased an early four-point deficit and turned it into simply an 18-19 drawback.
Nitura’s single block on Shagi Hassankhani even tied issues up at 22-all earlier than an assault error from Angel Canino noticed Iran taking the set level at 24-22. Fatemah Khalil then despatched a powerful kill to the newly-subbed Julia Coronel to tug the Philippines to a deciding set.
Nitura continued to shine for Alas because the reigning UAAP Rookie of the Yr fueled a 4-0 run, placing the roof on Masoumeh Masi earlier than hitting one from the left aspect off a Bella Belen setup to provide Alas an important 11-9 cushion.
The Philippines, nonetheless, dedicated back-to-back errors that allowed Iran to pressure an 11-all impasse. A Dell Palomata fast and a much-needed service ace from Gandler then had the Filipinas having fun with a 13-11 lead.
However Alas collapsed within the endgame with Zahra Salehi denying Nitura and Canino committing one other assault error, paving the way in which for Iran’s match level at 14-13.
Zahra put the exclamation by shutting down the other assault from Canino because the Iranians remained unbeaten at 3-0.
Canino nonetheless emerged as the highest scorer for the Philippines with 20 factors anchored on 17 assaults, two blocks, and one ace whereas Laure and Palomata chipped in 16 and 10 markers.
Alas fell to a 2-1 card and is now at third place in Pool B. They should beat two powerhouse golf equipment in New Zealand on Wednesday and Kazakhstan on Thursday to bolster its rivalry.
Solely the highest two groups within the two swimming pools will advance to the crossover semifinals with the champions clinching a ticket to the 2026 Asian Ladies’s Volleyball Championship.
—JMB, GMA Built-in Information