ALAS Pilipinas toppled a higher-ranked Kazakhstan side, 25-21, 25-15, 25-19, on Independence Day Thursday at the AVC Women’s Volleyball Nations Cup in Hanoi to again reach the semifinals of the same tournament where the Philippines clinched bronze at home last year.

The world No. 47 Filipinas will play in the semifinals as the top seeds from Pool B with a 4-1 win-loss record—the same card their preys, who’re No. 31 in the FIVB rankings, had but were relegated to No. 2 after the tiebreak.

The semifinals pit the Philippines against Chinese Taipei at 9 p.m. (Manila time) on Friday with Kazakhstan taking on Vietnam at 6:30 p.m. at the Dong Anh Arena.

“After yesterday’s match [won over New Zealand], Kazakhstan was already in our minds as we left the court for the dugout,” setter and team captain Jia de Guzman said.

“We knew the Kazakhs are a tough matchup and we needed our best to beat them.”

“It’s unbelievable, a straight sets win for us, I’m really proud of my teammates,” she said. “This victory is a big morale-booster for us.”

Bella Belen had 16 points with 11 excellent receptions, while Alyssa Solomon and Angel Canino finished with 14 and 13 points, respectively for Alas Pilipinas.

“I had the opportunity to face Kazahstan several times in the past, and they always have different sets of players,” Belen said. “But I have deep in my mind that we can beat them.”

Alas Pilipinas was relentless on the eve of the Kazakhstan match with Brazilian head coach Jorge Edson Souza de Brito keeping the girls’ focus in check.

“We’re in the top 4, it will be a hard match,” de Brito said.

“The mindset for semifinals is the same, play good and take every advantage that we can … I will try to find some weak points [of the opponent].”

Canino, the most consistent on the team, said beating the Kazakhs by straight sets came as a surprise for the team.

“We didn’t expect the match to go only three sets, they’re a strong team,” she said. “Whatever happened in our previous matches were precious lessons for us. And I’m really grateful for the guidance of Ate Jia [de Guzman] and Ate Dawn [Macandili-Catindig, libero].”

Alas Pilipinas pulled off the upset before a good number of Vietnam-based flag-waving Filipino fans who rabidly cheered the victory chanting “Happy Independence Day!”

Host Vietnam was the Pool A topnotcher with a 3-0 record, while went 2-1 after the preliminaries.

Iran also got three wins—one of them at the expense of Alas Pilipinas—and one loss, but missed the semifinals after the tiebreak was applied.