PH women's volleyball team yields to Indonesia (Sabong News)
Author
Reynald I. Magallon
Date
MAY 17 2022
The medal hopes for the Philippine women’s volleyball team took a huge hit after suffering a 25-23, 21-25, 25-15, 25-20 defeat at the hands of Indonesia in the 31st Southeast Asian Games at the Quang Ninh Gymnasium in Vietnam on Tuesday, May 17.
Alyssa Valdez and Jaja Santiago carried the fight for the Filipinas but were not enough to topple last edition’s bronze medalists as Indonesia put the national team on brink of missing the podium finish.
The Filipina spikers have now absorbed two straight losses after opening their campaign with a rousing sweep of Malaysia. Since then they suffered a thorough 25-15, 25-13, 25-14 beatdown from defending champion Thailand in their second game last Saturday before taking the heartbreaking loss to Indonesia which put them on a 1-2 record in the single round-robin format tournament.
The Filipinas actually had the chance to take the opening set after taking a comfortable 22-19 lead but a pair of defensive lapses allowed the Indonesians to generate momentum and unleash a 6-1 run to secure the first set.
Ces Molina then provided the spark in the second set to pull away from an 18-all deadlock and score the equalizer.
The Indonesians however showed better resolve in the following sets as they caught the Filipinas flat footed in the next frame before staving off a last ditch run courtesy of Santiago to secure the crucial win.
The national team now needs to win against host Vietnam on Thursday in hopes to qualify for the bronze medal match.
