MANILA – The Philippines failed to sustain its strong start to suffer a 25-21, 25-22, 24-26, 16-25, 10-15 defeat to Australia in the 2018 Asian Volleyball Confederation Women Seniors Cup in Thailand.
Sunday night’s defeat was heartbreaking for the Filipina spikers, who won the first two sets and nearly finishing off the Australians in the third before fading in the fourth and fifth sets.
The Philippines got into a tight exchange with Australia in the first set as it trailed 17-19 before Cha Cruz, Alyssa Valdez and Mylene Paat conspired in the next 8 points to turn things around.
Australia had a strong start in the second frame 6-2 but the Philippines kept it close and forced deadlocks 11-all and 21-all before draining 4 straight points from Cruz and Paat for a 2-0 set edge.
The Philippines struggled in the third set and fell behind 12-18 before mounting a huge fight-back behind Valdez and Paat to tie the scores 24-all. But it conceded two goals to the Aussies.
In the fourth set the Philippines had a flat start and fell behind by double-digits as Australia’s Rachel Rourke anchored the offense and dragged the Filipinas to a fifth and deciding set.
The Philippines barely hung on to an 8-6 advantage after a slow start in the fifth frame. Rourke pounded on the defense of Cruz to take an 11-8 edge before completing Australia’s fight-back for good.
Rourke led Australia’s scoring with 33 points while Valdez and Paat finished with 25 and 17 points, respectively, for the Philippines./PN
