ALAS PILIPINAS plunges into a must-win match against New Zealand in the AVC Women\u2019s Volleyball Nations Cup on Wednesday in Hanoi.<\/p>\n
At 2-1 won-lost following a heart-breaker to Iran on Monday, Alas Pilipinas needs to hurdle New Zealand and Kazakhstan on Thursday to stay alive for the semifinals of the 11-nation competition.<\/p>\n
Angel Canino, who\u2019s become the go-to gal of the team with her consistency at the net, felt they have a strong chance against the Kiwis, who nailed their first win after two matches\u2014a five-setter over Mongolia\u2014on Monday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cAte Jia [Morado-de Guzman, team captain] keeps our spirits up,\u201d Canino said during Tuesday\u2019s tournament rest day. \u201cShe told us that we have more matches coming up and that we keep our chins up\u2014we fight to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Philippines-New Zealand match is set at 4 p.m. (Manila time) at the Dong Anh Arena in Vietnam\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever outcome we had in this tournament, we\u2019ve continued to learn and improve,\u201d added Canino, a former top rookie and most valuable player of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines.<\/p>\n
Alas Pilipinas head coach Jorge Edson Souza de Brito made the most of the day off from the matches and engaged the girls to a pep talk that bordered on not giving up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mindset is to always fight hard ,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Kazakhstan and Iran are 3-0 in Pool B, with Indonesia and Mongolia down at 0-3, while host Vietnam leads Pool A with a 2-0 card, followed by Chinese-Taipei with 2-1, Australia 1-1, Hong Kong 1-2 and India 0-2.<\/p>\n
The top two teams from each group advance to the semifinals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ALAS PILIPINAS plunges into a must-win match against New Zealand in the AVC Women\u2019s Volleyball Nations Cup on Wednesday in Hanoi. At 2-1 won-lost following a heart-breaker to Iran on Monday, Alas Pilipinas needs to hurdle New Zealand and Kazakhstan on Thursday to stay alive for the semifinals of the 11-nation competition. Angel Canino, who\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[305],"class_list":["post-3166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-avc-womens-volleyball-nations-cup"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t