MANILA – The Philippines made their first win in the 6th Asian Volleyball Confederation Cup for Women by defeating Kazakhstan 25-22, 25-23, 20-25, 25-17 Tuesday night in Thailand.
Alyssa Valdez and Mylene Paat led the way with 16 points each while Aby Maraño and Cha Cruz-Behag combined for 19 markers for the Philippines, which ended the group match with a 1-2 win-loss card.
The Philippines will still have a chance to add up to their victory in the tournament in the classification round starting Sept. 21, where they can vie for as high as the ninth place.
In the opening set the Philippines started strong for an early 10-5 advantage but Kazakhstan clawed their way up to force several deadlocks, the last at 22-all. Julia Morado and Valdez then scored one each to clinch the set.
The Philippines made another early lead in the second set 13-9.
They seemed headed to an easy set win with 22-18 but Kazakhstan countered with another run for a 23-all score before committing an error and Morado converting a block for a 2-0 set edge.
After losing the third set, the Philippines seemed headed for another meltdown after trailing 11-14 midway in the fourth set before unloading a 9-1 scoring run to snatch a 20-15 advantage.
The lead grew further to 24-17 behind Valdez, Paat, Grethcel Soltones, Risa Sato, and Maika Ortiz before Aiza Maizo-Pontillas delivered the game-winning block on a Kazakhstan player.
Anastassiya Rostovchsihikova led the scoring of Kazakhstan with 15 points as they ended the group match with a 0-3 card./PN
