By Rachel Gonzales

 

The Alas Pilipinas girls’ under-16 squad may not have earned the distinction of becoming the first Philippine volleyball team to enter the FIVB World Championship via automatic hosting, but they carved out something even more meaningful: a place on the world stage earned purely by merit.

 

Composed entirely of high school standouts from across the country, the youngest national volleyball team opened the nation’s eyes to the impact of genuine grassroots development with a Cinderella fifth-place finish in the 2nd Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Asian Women’s U16 Championship in Amman, Jordan.

 

The ragtag unit, coached by Edwin Leyva and bannered by captain and breakout scorer Xyz Rayco of Nasipit, Agusan del Norte, had only two weeks to train together.

 

"Since the players came from different provinces, one of the first challenges we faced was communication. Some of them weren’t very fluent in Tagalog, so we had to adjust," Leyva shared.

 

"Sometimes we used English or just relied on 'volleyball language' to connect with each other. Eventually, they started to gel because they listened well and communicated through the game itself.”

 

Despite the short preparation, the Alas girls put up a gallant stand against 2023 champion Japan and this year’s runner-up Chinese Taipei before dropping their games against both teams. Ultimately, they took down Asian powerhouse Iran and Thailand.

 

Their defining moment came in the battle for fifth, where they pulled off an upset over Thailand, 25-23, 25-20, 19-25, 25-22, securing the final Asian slot to the 2026 FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U17 World Championship in Santiago, Chile.

 

China had qualified automatically as defending world champion even before the Final Four, while the other Asian representatives for the world meet are newly crowned AVC U16 champion South Korea, runner-up Chinese Taipei, and fourth-placer Japan. The Philippines, against all odds, earned its rightful place among them.

 

More than the qualification itself, Leyva said the campaign validated the long-term value of starting player development early.

 

“We wanted this group to set the standard for our mass-based program. With just two weeks of preparation, the team has already achieved a lot,” he said. 

 

Rayco, just 14 years old, emerged as one of the tournament’s best, finishing in the top five scorers with 112 points built on 92 kills, 14 blocks, and six aces. She was also among the top spikers at No.6.

 

“I’m really inspired because I’m still young, yet we’ve already come this far. There’s still a higher level ahead of us, and I’m so happy that at my age, I was able to achieve this,” Rayco said after dropping 30 against Thailand in the battle for fifth.

 

Middle blocker Madele Gale finished second in blocking with 20 kill blocks, including 7 in a five-setter versus Thailand in the Final Eight. Resty Jane Olaguir and Frances Ramos also cracked the leaderboard as the No. 6 setter and No. 6 digger, respectively.

 

With results proving that talent nurtured early can flourish internationally, the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) vowed to maximize the seven months left before the World Championship, including expanding the pool and scheduling an overseas training camp.

 

“This is big for Philippine volleyball and we’re looking at the future,” said PNVF and AVC president Tats Suzara.

 

Leyva aims to continue bringing out the best of this history-making 12 players, who remain eligible for next year’s World Championship, having been born in either 2010 or 2011, and expand his pool.

 

“This time, hopefully, we can prepare better. We’ll train abroad so we can learn and adopt the systems used in Japan, Korea, or Chinese Taipei,” Leyva said.

 

“We will expand the pool. That way, we can pull players from the remaining pool when needed. We can’t just keep things the same. We either have to strengthen the lineup or maintain it, depending on the team’s unity and camaraderie.”

 

The players themselves know the work has only begun.

 

“We’ll work even harder and give our best because we still have a lot of lapses to improve on. We’ll train properly and keep giving our best,” setter Olaguir said.