The STANDS. An INQUIRER Sports Newsletter

 

May 31, 2024

Alas Pilipinas gives the crowd something to cheer about. (AUGUST DELA CRUZ)

Hey there sports fan, Well, Alas Pilipinas did it. By reaching the semifinals, the crack group of female volleyball players who made up the national squad for the AVC Challenge Cup already posted the best finish by a Philippine team in an AVC event. But the Filipino women threw in a bonus, grabbing the bronze medal after whipping Australia for the last spot on the podium. There's certainly enough credit to go around. From the coaches to the players to the fans who filled the rafters to support the squad, everything came together for the national team. From the top of the roster to the last-minute add-on, everybody contributed to the team's success. Hey, Jia De Guzman, whose playmaking wizardry set the tone for the Philippines right from the start, and Angel Canino, who proved as lethal despite platying a position new to her, even got to bring home individual awards.  This marks a new era for women's volleyball as it seeks to establish itself internationally and add meat to the stratospheric rise of the sport in terms of popularity. (Speaking of which, a trivia question: Do you know when the PVL, then known as the Shakey's V-League, play its first tournament? Answer can be found at the end of this email). Now the team wants to run it back. There are future tournaments ahead, including a doorway to the very popular Volleyball Nations League circuit, and officials are looking to keep this pool of talent intact, with a few additions, for that and other international tournaments. Looks promising!

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Allein Maliksi and the Bolts drag the Gin Kings to an out-of-town Game 7. (PBA IMAGES)

Meanwhile... …Much to the disdain of Barangay Ginebra fans, the Gin Kings were dragged to a Game 7 by a Meralco squad eager to add some success to its one-sided rivalry with the league's most popular club. It's not going to be easy for Meralco to go all the way but at least, the Bolts bought themselves a Game 7 where anything can happen. The game kicks off tonight in Batangas. And oh look! The Celtics are back in the NBA Finals! What we're up to next: There's still the Dalls-Minnesota series out West that needs to be settled so we'll keep track of that before expanding our coverage of the NBA for the championship series. Like the Celtics, who swept the Indiana Pacers on the way to the NBA Finals, San Miguel Beer also used the broom in its Philippine Cup semifinals and will have to wait for the result of the Ginerba-Meralco Game 7 before it can fully prepare for its title defense. We've got you covered on that too. Number of the Week: 5 Number of times Tim Cone has so far won a Game 7 in the PBA since 2013.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK “I remember if there were at least 50 people watching, we'd be happy already.” —Ricky Palou, PVL president, on the humble beginnings of the pro league and the sport of volleyball.

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2004. That's the answer to the trivia question above. Think you can ace the rest of the quiz? head over to our Viber community and try the test out! Buy the Inquirer at newsstands, subscribe to our digital edition, Inquirer Plus, visit our online site and follow us on socials (Twitter: @inquirersports; FB: facebook.com/inquirersports) for more stories and updates—or to send us questions or suggestions of stories you'd want to read. See you next Friday! Francis Francis T. J. Ochoa is the Sports Editor of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. For comments, suggestions and questions, hit him up on Twitter (@ftjochoaINQ).