MANILA – The Philippines bowed out of the medal contention in the 2018 Asian Games after a 15-25, 9-25, 7-25 loss to China in the quarterfinals of women’s volleyball in Jakarta, Indonesia.
After the Wednesday night loss, the Filipinas were relegated to the fifth- to eighth-place classification round starting Friday afternoon against Kazakhstan.
China surged to an 8-3 opening in the first set and widened this to 18-6 before the Philippines converted consecutive points from Jaja Santiago and Alyssa Valdez to trim the deficit 15-24.
The Chinese continued their domination in the second set behind Zhu Ting and Mingyan Hu for a 16-5 start. Errors from the Philippines allowed the deficit to grow further and China to take a 2-0 set edge.
China went for the kill in the third set with a 16-2 scoring start behind Xiaotong Liu and Di Yao. The gap went as wide as 18 points, allowing the Olympic champions to wrap up the match in three sets.
Xiangyu Go led China with 16 markers. Xinyue Yang and Liu added 15 and 10 points, respectively. They will face Japan in the knockout semifinal match tonight.
Santiago was the lone bright spot for the Philippines with 16 points, on 12 attacks, three blocks and a service ace. Valdez and Dindin Santiago-Manabat combined for 5 markers.
This was the first time in 36 years that the Philippines fielded a team in women’s volleyball in the Asian Games./PN
