Despite not being in her natural position, Angel Canino made waves in the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup en route to the Best Opposite Spiker award.
In her debut as member of the senior Philippine national team, Angel Canino added another award to her already impressive list of accomplishments.
The 21-year-old De La Salle stalwart took home the Best Opposite Spiker award in the 2024 AVC Challenge Cup, where Alas Pilipinas secured the historic bronze medal.
A natural outside hitter, Canino was converted to an opposite spikerr at the last minute for the AVC joust, given Alas’ short preparation for the tournament.
Despite this, the 5-foot-10 spiker showed out in the tournament, finishing in the top-five in scoring after the preliminary round despite sitting out one game for rest. Canino was also Alas’ leading scorer in four out of their six games in the Challenge Cup.
“Nagulat ako sa result and nagulat ako na naging Best Opposite pa ako kasi knowing this AVC, marami akong kalaban sa spot ko so I didn’t expect anything,” Canino said after winning the award.
As she won arguably the most prestigious award of her promising career so far, Canino also made sure to credit her teammates and coaches for the honor, emphasizing that she was solely focused on helping the Philippines achieve history.
“Hindi ko naman talaga hinabol ‘yung award na ito. It’s more on making history for the Philippines and it’s more on my teammates din talaga,” said Canino.
“Itong award na ito, hindi ito akin. Para ito sa kanila,” she added.
It's still unclear whether Canino will continue playing as an opposite hitter for Alas Pilipinas moving forward. But whatever the case may be, the DLSU superstar is up for the challenge.
“Anumang posisyon na ibibigay sakin in the future, kakayanin ko at gagawan ko ng paraan,” said Canino.