PH volleybelles bow to Vietnam, draw Thailand in semis

Alyssa Valdez of the Philippines attacks the defense of Vietnam during their women’s volleyball match in the 29th Southeast Asian Games. The Vietnamese prevailed, 26-24, 25-12, 25-23. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/SEA GAMES POOL

KUALA LUMPUR—The Philippine women’s volleyball team must now take the road it had hoped to avoid in the semifinals.

The Nationals are now headed to a semifinal showdown against world-class Thailand after absorbing a stinging 26-24, 25-12, 25-23 defeat to Vietnam Friday at MITEC Hall 11.

The Philippines was hoping for a win that would have given the team a lighter semifinal opponent but will now have to deal with Thailand, which experts have tagged as the gold favorite in this event.

But the Filipinos continue to hold on to hope.

“We can never tell, the ball is round,” said PH coach Francis Vicente. “We tend to play better when we are up against the wall.”

Vietnam overcame the Philippines’ tough stand in the first and third sets to score the victory and set up a semifinal duel with Indonesia.

The Vietnamese will face Indonesia in the other group that Thailand swept. Semis is on Saturday.

“Everybody played well. We fought well except in the second set,” said Vicente.

Down by two sets, the star-studded Philippines stormed to a 16-12 lead in the third but soon encountered problems in service receives and failed to close out the frame.

“We should be happy with the result, they did their best but in the second set I don’t know what happened,” bared the mentor.

“We lost by a big margin and I was surprised because we used the same combinations,” he said. “In the third set we changed, it clicked but we couldn’t sustain it.”

Vietnam, the 2015 SEA Games silver winner, relied on Tran Thi Thanh Thuy, who had 14 points and team captain Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hoa, who made 11.

Alyssa Valdez topscored with 11 points, while Jaja Santiago added 10. Jovelyn Gonzaga had seven, and Aby Marano five.