VIETNAM was unrelentless in defending its crown by staving off a tall Kazakhstan squad in four sets, 25-14, 25-19, 14-25, 25-23, to stay unbeaten in the Asian Volleyball Confederation Challenge Cup for Women on Friday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Opposite spiker Nguyen Thi Bich Tuyen racked up 30 points—26 on attacks, three blocks and one service ace — to help the Vietnamese top Pool B with a 3-0 won-lost card.

The Vietnamese opened its bid by beating Singapore, 25-8, 29-27, 25-10, and Hong Kong, 25-13, 25-17, 25-16, earlier in the tournament organized by the Philippine National Vollyball Federation headed by Ramon “Tats” Suzara and supported by Meralco, PLDT, Smart, Akari, AyalaLand, Nuvali, Foton, POC, PSC, Mikasa, Senoh, Asics, Maynilad, Makati Shangri-La, Rebisco, Cignal, OneSports, OneSports+ and PilipinasLive.

“We really didn’t have a game against Kazakhstan for a long time, like six years,” team captain Tranh Thi Thanh Thuy said. “This time, they are really tall and strong, so they are a little bit intimidating.”

“But our team did pretty well today. I’m very proud,” she added.

The Vietnamese go for a sweep of Pool B if against Indonesia on Sunday at 10 a.m.

“With all the players we have now, we are confident to take the championship because now we have a good connection,” Thuy said.

Iran rallied past Chinese-Taipei, 24-26, 25-20, 25-18, 28-26, to go 1-1 in Pool A also on Friday and bounce back from its 17-25, 23-25, 21-25 loss to India on opening day.

Aytak Salamat delivered 23 points, 22 on attacks, and Shadehsari Poorsaleh had 18 kills for Iran, which faces host Philippines on Saturday at 7 p.m.

“It was necessary to keep calm,” skipper Dorsa Fallahkordkhel said. “We don’t have enough experience last time but now that we’re in our second match, so we watched their movements and we listened to all that coach.”

“Most in our team are young. We develop our experience every match so that we can improve also. We believe in ourselves, and we try to be better every game,” she added.

Chinese-Taipei suffered its third straight beating to stay winless.