BY ABBY TORALBA
THE result was not exactly what they had hoped for, but improving by three places from their last campaign in the same tourney is something these hastily-formed Filipina spikers could be proud of.
Team Philippines absorbed a 26-28, 21-25, 21-25 loss to Chinese Taipei yesterday in their battle for fifth place in the AVC Cup for Women at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
Chang Li Wen led Chinese Taipei with 18 points, while Chen Tzu-Ya added 11 markers.
“Siyempre kami sa team ng Philippines-Creamline, sobrang saya at nabigyan kami ng opportunity sa tournament na ito,” Philippine coach Sherwin Meneses said. “Hopefully, ma-improve pa natin iyong highest level of volleyball sa tournament na sasalihan ng Pilipinas at thank you rin sa management namin at talagang sumuporta (sila) sa tournament na ito,” he added.
Despite falling short in the first set, the Philippines showed a better fight in the second.
Down by four points, 20-24, the nationals crawled their way back and tied it 20-all after three consecutive hits from Diana Mae Carlos.
The Philippines even extended the set to 26-all but Chinese Taipei scoeed two straight points, the last kill from Liu Shuang-Ling.
The Creamline-backed sqaud led 8-5 early in the third frame after an off the block hit from Rose Vargas but Chinese Taipei equalized the score at 8-all and started to pull away 16-13 after an off the block hit from Chang.
Tied at 20-all, Chang scored three straight kills and put Chinese Taipei at 23-20. An attack error from Carlos sealed it for Chinese Taipei.
The last time that the country participated in the AVC Cup was in 2018 where the Philippines finished ninth in Thailand.
Carlos and open hitter Jema Galanza only had eight kills each for the Philippines which won three games in seven total matches in the continental meet.
Middle blocker Celine Domingo led Philippines with 12 points while opposite hitter Michele Gumabao contributed nine markers.
In the first match, Iran subdued Australia 25-19, 25-18, 25-22 in the battle for seventh.
Aytak Salamatgharamaleki led Iran with 15 points, while Mahsa Saberi scored 14 markers.
Stefanie Wieler and Kara Inskip delivered 10 kills, respectively, for the Volleyroos who finished at eighth, followed by the South Koreans who placed last in the competition.
Team Philippines will next fly the flag in the Asean Grand Prix that will start on Sept. 9 at Nakhon Ratchasima in Thailand.
“We’re very happy sa outcome ng buong AVC but it could’ve been different also if we had more time to prepare pero the whole team was very willing to step up to the opportunity and we’re very grateful for it,” team captain Jia De Guzman said.
“Iyong mga wins and lessons na nakuha namin this tournament sobrang priceless talaga so makakatulong sa team namin whether in PVL or mabigyan ulit kami ng chance in the national team ita-take talaga namin na mag-iimprove pa kami.”
