Photo from PNVF
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine beach volleyball teams fashioned out contrasting victories in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games on Friday at Otres Beach in Preah Sihanouk.
The men’s team edged Cambodia in three matches to seize a 2-0 record in Group A while the women’s squad debuted with a loss to Vietnam in the golden match.
Jude Garcia and James Buytrago outlasted home bets Oem Narit and Thy Menghuong in the golden match, 23-21, 21-17, as the Philippines won the series against Cambodia to stay unbeaten.
The Nationals lost their first game as Ranran Abdilla and Jaron Requinton fell to Menghuong and his partner Chuk Sophea, 19-21, 21-14, 14-16.
Garcia and Buytrago came to the rescue, forcing a golden match with a 19-21, 21-18, 15-12 victory over Narit and Pich Sophon.
The Philippine men’s team battles Vietnam on Saturday before wrapping its Group A campaign against Laos the next day as only the top two teams of each group will advance to the semifinals.
The Philippine women’s volleyball squad lost its first assignment in Group B as Sisi Rondina and Jovelyn Gonzaga fell to the Vietnamese in the golden match, 15-21, 22-24.
After losing the opening set, Rondina and Gonzaga unleashed a 10-6 start in the second but the Vietnamese spikers forced a toe-to-toe battle.
The Filipinos were two points away from forcing a deciding set after Rondina gave them a 19-17 lead. But she committed a crucial service error followed by two consecutive attacks from Vietnam to steal the match point, 19-20.
Rondina saved two match points followed by an attack error from Vietnam to take the set point advantage, 22-21. But the Vietnamese nailed three consecutive attacks to seal their first win.
Bernadeth Pons and Dij Rodriguez staved off Vietnam’s Team 1 Thi My Dinh and Le Thi Tuong Nguyen, 21-17, 18-21, 16-14.
But Rondina and Gonzaga lost the second game to Ngoc Chau and Thin Thanh Nguyen, 18-21, 21-13, 15-17, which allowed Vietnam to force a decider.
The Philippines tries to bounce back against defending champion Thailand on Saturday before facing Malaysia on Sunday.
Both national beach volleyball teams are eyeing to surpass their past two bronze medals in the SEA Games.