Heartbreaker: Indonesia foils Philippines’ bronze bid in women’s volleyball

The Philippine women’s volleyball team took another heartbreaking loss as it fell to Indonesia, 25-20, 24-26, 25-15, 20-25, 16-14, in their bronze medal match in the 30th Southeast Asian Games at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City

The star-studded women’s team squandered two match points in the final set, deflating the momentum of a squad that showed a lot of fire earlier.

The reigning silver medalists looked like they were going for an early kill as they broke a 1-1 set deadlock by dominating the third, 25-15.

However, they were caught by surprise as the Filipinos unloaded a barrage of fresh attacks, courtesy of Eya Laure and Mika Reyes, which put the hosts ahead, 16-10, on the way to forcing a decider.

But scoring machine Megawati Hangestri Pertiwi took over as she lead Indonesia from a 12-14 deficit, silencing what had been a roaring Filipino crowd.

Megawati ended with another monster performance for Indonesia as she tallied 35 points off 31 kills, 2 blocks and 2 aces. She drew support from Arsela Nuari Purnama, Hany Budiarti and Ratri Wulandri, who registered 13, 11 and 8, respectively.

Ces Molina fired 17 points while Alyssa Valdez collected 14 points in the Nationals’ losing cause.

The defeat left the Filipinos still without a medal in the women’s competition since 2005.