Women's National Volleyball Team Fails to Meet Target at 2025 AVC Nations Cup

HANOI, FRIDAY — With only two victories out of a total of five matches in the group stage, the Indonesian women's volleyball national team is confirmed to be unable to advance to the semifinals of the AVC (Asian Volleyball Confederation) Women’s Volleyball Nations Cup 2025. Changes in the squad and a series of consecutive match schedules are suspected to be the reasons for the national team's failure to meet the target of reaching the top four.

Indonesia concluded the group phase with a 3-0 victory (25-14, 25-15, 25-19) over New Zealand on Thursday (12/6/2025). For Yolla Yuliana and her teammates, this match marked their second consecutive win after defeating Mongolia the day before with the same score, 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-23).

Despite achieving two victories, these positive results were not enough to propel the women's national team into the semifinals. This is because Indonesia suffered defeats in the first three matches against Iran (2-3), the Philippines (1-3), and Kazakhstan (0-3).

As a result, Indonesia could only finish in fourth place in the final standings of Group B. Only the top two teams from Group A and Group B are entitled to advance to the semifinals.

Indeed, the Chairman of the Central Board of the Indonesian Volleyball Association (PP PBVSI), Imam Sudjarwo, had previously set a target for the women's national team to at least reach the top four in the AVC Nations Cup. According to Imam, this target would serve as valuable capital for the next international event.

There are several factors believed to be the cause of the women's national team failing to meet the target. The Deputy Head of Development and Achievement of the PP PBVSI Management, Loudry Maspaitella, stated that the changes in the women's national team squad also affected the team's strength in the 2025 AVC Nations Cup. The Indonesian women's national team did not indeed compete with their best strength.

Playing three times in a row with less than 24 hours between them is definitely not easy. - Loudry Maspaitella -

After initially calling 15 players to participate in the training camp for the AVC Nations Cup on May 15, there has been a change in the squad 10 days later. Three players who were previously called have unfortunately had to withdraw. In their place, two new players have been summoned to the national training center.

The absent players include outside hitters Megawati Hangestri and Aulia Suci Nurfadila and opponent Arsela Nuari Purnama. They asked for permission to be absent for personal reasons and to undergo injury recovery.

PP PBVSI then called middle blocker Dinda Syifa Amalia and outside hitter Ajeng Viona Adelia. This decision received a negative response, especially from netizens. They questioned the federation's seriousness in preparing the team and the commitment of the players who were called.

"Furthermore, the packed match schedule makes it difficult for players to obtain ideal recovery time. Playing three consecutive times with less than 24 hours of rest is clearly not an easy task," said Loudry.

With the failure to reach the top four, the Indonesian women's national team shifted its focus to the battle for fifth place. In the semifinal match for the fifth to eighth places, Indonesia defeated Hong Kong 3-1 (25-21, 25-20, 23-25, 25-15) on Friday (13/6/2025) afternoon.

Indonesia will face the winner of the match between Australia and Iran for the fifth place, Saturday (14/6/2025). "We need to recover first because the match against Hong Kong was very exhausting for us. We hope to be fresher in our next match," said the captain of the Indonesian team, Yolla, after the game.

"Tomorrow's match could be a big match because we will play Iran again or Australia. This is an important match. I will invite other friends to continue to enjoy the match but stay focused," he said later.

Both Iran and Australia are opponents that Indonesia should be wary of. When looking at the world rankings, Indonesia is actually superior to Iran. Based on the world rankings as of May 27, 2025, or prior to the AVC Nations Cup, Indonesia occupies the 54th position, while Iran is in the 57th position.

However, Indonesia lost to Iran in the first match of the AVC Nations Cup group stage. The team coached by Octavian was defeated 2-3 (25-23, 23-25, 25-16, 19-25, 12-15).

Meanwhile, Indonesia has experience in defeating Australia with a score of 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-16). However, the meeting has passed two years since the 2023 AVC Challenge Cup in Gresik, East Java. At that time, Indonesia was at full strength and came out as runner-up.