Alas Pilipinas shook off an opening day loss against Vietnam, venting its ire on China’s Sichuan Wuliangchun, 25-12, 25-22, 19-25, 25-15, at the VTV Cup 2025.

It was a comeback win for the Nationals in Vinh Phuc province as they improved to 1-1 in Pool A, tying their opponent’s win-loss record on Monday night, June 30.

The opening frame was easy work for Alas, even clinching scores off broken plays midway through.

From a close 15-10 Alas lead count, the Jia de Guzman-captained squad took Set 1 with a 10-2 finishing blitz, establishing a 1-0 cushion.

The succeeding frame was a close one, with the Chinese side inching within one after a 7-1 blitz, 23-22 from a 22-15 seven-point Alas separation.

But an error from the Chinese gifted a point to the Filipinas, as Vanie Gandler found the regalo to close out Set 2, 25-22.

It was Sichuan’s turn to regroup in Set 3, 19-25, avoiding a Filipino sweep.

From a narrow 13-11 count in Set 4, with Alas leading, the national team found the much-needed scores from Leila Cruz, MJ Phillips and Brooke Van Sickle off their hits and blocks to pull away from Sichuan, 19-12.

In the closing moments, Alas found the finishing touches from a Dell Palomata kill block, a Van Sickle backrow hit, an attack error from the Chinese side, a Gandler hit, and another Palomata block for the four-set triumph.

The Philippines listed six aces in total, a better showing from the service line compared to the Sichuan crew which only had one.

They also won 29 points from Chinese errors, while the Nationals only gave 16 from faults. (ABS-CBN News)