China marches into the semifinals with a 23-25, 25-14, 25-18, 25-17 win over the Philippines.
Philippines rocked the arena with a very strong start in the first set, outscoring China in attacks and aces. But it was a different story for the next three sets. The nationals could keep it close in the first half of the sets, then China will just step on the gas and win it. In the fourth set, Philippines inched it as close as 12-13 before China unleashed its relentless attacks courtesy of their main scorer Liu Yanhan.
Liu scored a game-high 21 points, 18 from attacks, 2 blocks and an ace. Meanwhile, it was Philippines' team captain Alyssa Valdez who topscored her squad with 17 attacks and a block. Battling through several injuries, Valdez also committed 12 errors mostly from the attacks. She was anchored by a breakthrough game of Myla Pablo who scored 9 attacks and 2 blocks. Fellow NU Bulldog Jaja Santiago also scored her tournament-high 15 points (10 attacks, 3 aces and 3 blocks).
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| photo (c) Volleyball PH Photo Albums |
Philippines almost matched China's attacks (47-48) and aces (6-7), but athletes from the mainland just asserted their height with 13-6 advantage in the blocking. The Chinese squad also proved to be a steadier team after they committed 9 errors in the first set, they just gave away 6 points in the next three sets. On the other hand, the inexperienced Philippine squad gave away 30 points in the entire match.
With the loss, the national team is relegated to the 5th-8th placing where they will battle Chinese Taipei tomorrow, 12 noon at the PhilSports Arena.
Scores cannot tell how the young and newly assembled Philippine team fought until the very last point. The scores however was obviously a better showing than the Southeast Asian powerhouse Thailand's straight set loss to China, where they were held to just a total of 35 points. Philippines just did not disappoint its vastly growing volleyball fans. The team just gets better and better every game, taking each of them as a learning experience. As witnesses to their growth, we'll wait until they become the volleyball giants.
