Alas girls lose to Thailand in five sets ahead of classification

AMMAN, Jordan, November 7 ------ Alas Pilipinas girls couldn’t close out down the stretch and fell to Thailand in five sets, 25-23, 15-25, 25-23, 23-25, 8-15, in the 2nd AVC Asian Women’s U16 Volleyball Championship at Prince Hamzah Sports Hall here.

The Filipinos are now set to play in the classification phase, where they still have a chance for a fifth-place finish. They face the third seed of Pool E on Friday at 4 p.m. (Philippine time). After taking a 6-4 lead in the fifth set off Kim Peralta’s down-the-line kill, Alas Pilipinas lost steam as Chayanut Inthanoo’s timely hits and Umarin Kaewkalong’s service run powered the Thais to six straight points for an 11-6 advantage.

Phitchayada Kunrat drilled two clutch kills to reach match point, 14-8, before Paphanan Phimphakhan sealed the comeback with a block on Nadeth Herbon. Thailand took the third seed in Pool F and will face the fourth placer from Pool E in a crossover match for the right to compete for fifth place.

Xyz Rayco’s 25-point explosion on 19 kills, five blocks, and an ace wasn’t enough, as Alas Pilipinas settled for fourth in Pool F. “I felt like we were starting to give up on ourselves. I kept telling them to keep fighting, but the other team was gaining momentum while we were getting down. That’s why we lost the drive to bounce back,” said team captain Rayco in Filipino. Madele Gale delivered seven kill blocks to finish with 12 points, while Herbon also scored 12. Jhenica Sadia and Peralta added seven and six points, respectively.

Alas edged Thailand in the first and third sets but couldn’t finish strong. The young nationals mounted a late rally from 14-21 in the fourth, with Rayco cutting the deficit to one, 20-21. Errors from the Thais tied the set at 22-all, but Alas committed costly miscues before Kannikar Boonrod forced a decider. “In the fourth set, we really wanted to win. We fought hard to catch up, but the players were already tired, and one of them got injured, so our balance was off,” said Alas U16 coach Edwin Leyva. “We’ll adjust and simulate our opponents’ movements in practice later. Hopefully, we can get it right because earlier, we had some minor mistakes in reading and defending drop balls. I’m hoping for a better game tomorrow and for the players to recover well.”

Umarin led the Thais with 23 points, while Natacha Thongkham and Phitchayada added 15 and 13, respectively. Chamikon Cankawe chipped in 11. “It’s like the Philippines and Thailand play at the same level, so it was kind of difficult,” said Umarin through a translator.

Source: inquirer.net