Manila, Philippines, May 29, 2024 – Hosts Philippines punched their places in the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup for Women podium, as they won the bronze medal match in straight sets, 3-0 (25-23, 25-15, 25-7) against Australia.
Spectators that packed the Rizal Memorial Coliseum witnessed the masterful orchestration of captain and setter Julia De Guzman, who helped key in the victory at home.
“We were just fighting from the first day onwards. This victory is all for the Filipino fans,” said Julia De Guzman.
The host team loaded the wings with Anne Angel Canino, while Cherry Ann Rondina varied her attacks from the flanks to the back row. Their backcourt were doing well in the serve-receive, to comfortably run their middle attack.
Australia played through the first set, running their offense on Caitlin Tipping and Ella Schabort, while playing decent defense. They inched closer, reaping merit from their opponents’ errors, but were unable to close out the first to their favor.
The Philippines dominated the second set, as they opened up their offense to activate Ejiya Laure by the wing. They showed quicker reflexes and better decisions in their transition plays, which mounted their momentum for a huge lead.
By the third set, the home team continued to perform well, and found solutions to play against the opponents’ block. They needed to run their offense quicker, and they needed to impose pressure from as far as the service line. Laure, together with Mereophe Sharma maintained a good service run to expand the lead to nearly insurmountable proportion, all toward a straight-sets match.
Both teams have outclassed their previous performance in Surabaya, where the Philippines were placed 7th and Australia finished at 5th. The Philippine side are expected to participate in the FIVB Challenger Cup scheduled from July 4-7, 2024, as likewise hosted in the Philippines’ capital city.
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