At A Glance
- The Philippine women's national volleyball team braces for a tall task in the AVC Challenge Cup next week.
The Philippine women’s national volleyball team braces for a tall task in the AVC Challenge Cup next week.

Hosting the week-long tournament, the Alas Women are set to be pitted against Australia in their opening game in Group A for the preliminaries on Thursday, May 23, at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
The Filipinas will be taking on the Australians in the main offering of the quadruple-header at 7 p.m. before resuming action the following day against India at the same time.
Under the guidance of Brazilian coach Sergio Veloso, the Philippines will wrap up their campaign against Iran and Chinese Taipei also in succession.
Led by veteran playmaker and Japan V Cup champion Jia Morado, the newly-formed lineup held its first practice on Thursday night, May 16, with University of the East’s Casiey Dongallo missing it due to classes.
Multi-awarded libero Dawn Macandili along with Jen Nierva, Sisi Rondina, Cherry Nunag, Dell Palomata, Faith Nisperos, Fifi Sharma, Vanie Gandler, Eya Laure and UAAP standouts Angel Canino, Julia Coronel and Thea Gagate of De La Salle all showed up for the training.
The new moniker Alas Pilipinas was announced earlier this week just in time to ride on the momentum of Philippine volleyball’s recent sustained success.
With the combination of pro and collegiate talents coming off their respective season in the recently concluded PVL All-Filipino Conference and UAAP Season 86, the lineup is coming in full force for the week-long competition despite a short turnaround.
Legions of volleyball fans are also expected to pack the 6,000-capacity venue following huge crowd turnouts in both tournaments.