MANILA, Philippines — Alas Pilipinas may be playing outside the country but the national team stars received lots of love from Filipino fans cheering at Dong Anh District Center for Culture, Information and Sports in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Alas made history, winning bronze in front of its home crowd at Rizal Memorial Coliseum last year. But there was no shortage of crowd support as Filipinos waved Philippine flags and cheered for their volleyball idols when the squad opened its Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Women’s Volleyball Nations Cup campaign with a 25-18, 25-16, 25-14 sweep of Mongolia on Saturday.

SCHEDULE: Alas Pilipinas women at AVC Nations Cup in Vietnam

“It’s really heartwarming because we didn’t expect to see a Filipino crowd here. It’s always such a joy to play for people who love and support you, no matter where you are in the world. We’re really thankful to the Filipino community,” said captain Jia De Guzman in Filipino in an interview with broadcaster One Sports.

“I’m so happy that people actually took the time to come, watch, and cheer for us.”

De Guzman, who played in the Japan SV.League for the past two years and led Alas in its podium finishes last year, also felt the support of the Filipino fans watching from their screens and sharing their cheers on social media.

“Even to those who couldn’t be here in person. Those watching from the Philippines and from all over the world. Thank you so much for all the support. It truly means a lot to us,” she said.

READ: Alas Pilipinas sweeps Mongolia in AVC Nations Cup opener

De Guzman, the tournament’s reigning Best Setter,  paced the Philippines with 10 excellent sets and 12 digs on top of two points, as Vanie Gandler unleashed 16 points, while Angel Canino added 11 points to start their Pool B campaign with a big win.

“We’re going in blind today because the latest video we could find was last year so we just relied on our training and system today and thankfuly it went our way,” she said.

Despite the strong start, De Guzman and the Alas squad shift their focus to their bigger game on Sunday against Southeast rival Indonesia.

“We have to recover after today’s game. We’re going to stay here and watch the game of Indonesia so we’ll know what we’re going against tomorrow. Coach is just asking us to trust in the system and trust in each other,” she said.