AVC Cup: Australia beats Chinese Taipei, faces Alas Pilipinas next

SCHEDULE: Alas Pilipinas at the AVC Challenge Cup 2024

MANILA, Philippines — Less than 24 hours before its duel against host Alas Pilipinas, Australia kicked off its AVC Challenge Cup campaign with a 23-25, 25-15, 25-19, 25-18 victory over Chinese Taipei in Pool A on Wednesday evening at Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Caitlin Tipping powered the Aussies with 21 points built on a 19-of-34 attacking clip, while Cassandra Dodd stood tall with 16 points, providing 10 of the team’s 18 blocks to beat Chinese Taipei before facing the Philippines on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Emma Burton was also instrumental with 11 points, while Caitlin Whincup and Kara Inskip added eight points each to overcome a slow start in the first set.

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Hsu Fang-Min carried Chinese Taipei with 15 points, and Lin Liang-Tai added 10 points in the loss.

Defending champion Vietnam sans star Tranh Thi Thanh Thuy dominated Hong Kong, 25-13, 25-17, 25-16, for its first win in Pool B.

Thuy, the tournament MVP, side-stepped from talking about the status of her injury and her availability in the week-long tournament but she is happy to be back in Manila.

“This is not the first time I’m here [in the Philippines]. It feels similar [than the last time] because everybody is very friendly. They welcomed us so I’m very happy,” said Thuy.

“I feel like our performance today is really good, but we’re not really satisfied with the match because there were still a lot of mistakes and we need to change this. I think our team needs to improve our reception because that is also a key to the wins. I hope for the next match, our team can improve on that skill,” she added.

Open spiker Vi Thi Nhu Quynh led the Vietnamese with 14 points in just two sets of action, scoring nine in the second set. Nguyen Thi Bich Tuyen scored seven of her 11 points in the third set to close out their straight-set win.

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Meanwhile, India encountered a strong third-set resistance from Iran before wrapping up a 25-17, 25-23, 25-21 win in Pool A, while Kazakhstan had a practically easier time against Singapore, 25-15, 25-9, 25-17, behind Kristina Belova’s 15 points highlighted by seven aces in Pool B action.

“I feel very proud and happy,” India’s team captain Kovat Shaji Jini said. “The Iran team’s very good but we focused on our service and digging and we got good results.”

Outside spiker Anagha Radhakrishnan was consistent for India all match long and finished with 13 kills and three service aces for 16 points and outside hitter Kambrath Anusree scattered 16 points on top of 13 kills and Shaalini Saravanan had 12 points.

“We were fourth place but now we want to win a medal in this championships so,” said Jini, referring to last year’s tournament in East Java where Vietnam won the crown over host Indonesia and the Indians losing to Chinese Taipei in the bronze medal match.

Belova fired eight kills and seven aces for the Kazakhs, who shared the early lead in Pool B with the Vietnamese as the top two teams in each group will advance to the semis.