THE national team takes on Hong Kong in Pool A action as the 19th Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship kicks off today at the Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan, Laguna.
Head Coach Francis Vicente is anticipating a high-level competition and has advised his wards to be in their top form when they see action against high-caliber opponents.
“It’s a very important game for the Philippines, especially if we want to enter the quarterfinals, so we need to win against Hong Kong,” Vicente told Tuesday’s news conference in a hotel in Muntinlupa City.
“We need a morale-boosting win. We all know that Hong Kong has upgraded but we also did the same,” Vicente added.
The national team is composed of skipper Mika Reyes, Alyssa Valdez, Jaja Santiago, Jovelyn Gonzaga, Aby Maraño, Gen Casugod, Maika Ortiz, Ces Molina, Aiza Maizo-Pontillas, Rhea Dimaculangan, Kim Fajardo, Kim Dy, Denden Lazaro and Dawn Macandili.
The opening ceremony is set at 5:30 p.m. Powerhouse South Korea takes on New Zealand to raise the curtain at 12:30 p.m. in a Pool C duel, while Thailand and Maldives clash at 3 p.m. in a Pool D game.
Matches will also be held simultaneously at the Muntinlupa Sports Complex between Pool D’s Chinese Taipei and Iran at 12:30 p.m., Pool B’s Japan and Australia also at 3 p.m. and Pool C’s Vietnam and Sri Lanka at 6 p.m
The Filipinas play Kazakhstan on Friday.
The matches will be aired on S+A, the ABS-CBN sports channel on free TV and in high definition on S+A HD.