Tired Philippine team falls to Taipei in straight sets

After a hard-fought 4 setter match against China yesterday, the injury-plagued Philippine squad suffers its fourth straight loss in the tournament, second time in the hands of Chinese Taipei - 25-17, 25-19 and 25-20.

For the first time in this inaugural event, no Filipino player registered a double digit performance. Team's leading scorer Alyssa Valdez was held to just 8 points to go along with a couple of attack errors. Also non-factor was Grethcel Soltones who did not score the entire game and hardly gets the ball over off her spikes. EJ Laure came in for Soltones but could not score as well. In the last set, Jhoana Maraguinot enters in the match only for the 2nd time in the tournament, but could not add to the team's scoring.
Myla Pablo continued to showcase her blocking prowess having 2 in the game, and added 7 attack points as well.

photo (c) Volleyball PH Photo Albums

It was a very difficult offensive game for the Philippines as the Chinese Taipei floor defense had been consistently superb from start to finish. A lot of net violations have also been called to the middle blockers that have stopped the momentum of the team at many parts of the game. Meanwhile, the open hitters accounted more than half of the 31 errors of the unexperienced squad. The hosts give away almost 9 points to the opponent every set, the most by any team in the 12-team tournament.

Chen Tzu Ya ended the match for Chinese Taipei with an open attack. She finished with 11 points.

Philippines will look to end its campaign tomorrow with a sweet victory and capture the 7th place finish as they face the loser of the India-Iran matchup.