Alas Pilipinas Girls fell prey to a taller Australia side in straight sets, 22-25, 18-25, 20-25, to settle for a 10th-place finish in the 15th Asian Women’s U18 Volleyball Championship campaign, Saturday at the Ratchaburi Gymnasium in Thailand.
Coming off a four-set, 26-24, 15-25, 25-19, 25-22 over India – their first in the tournament – the young Filipinas failed to sustain their momentum and suffered a straight-set beating at the hands of the Australians.
Alas Pilipinas held its ground in the opening frame, staying toe to toe against Australia before eventually finding themselves in a 19-22 hole late.
Denesse Daylisan then scored on back-to-back hits before Maile Salang and Lianne Penuliar blocked Matisse Conlon to tie the game at 22-all.
However, the Australians ran away from there, going on a 3-0 finishing kick to take a 1-0 advantage.
Australia opened the second set with a red-hot 13-4 start and never gave the Philippines a chance to come back for a quick 2-0 lead.
Following a rough performance in the second frame, the Filipinas were able to put up a much better performance in the third and even led in the early goings of the set.
Unfortunately, the Australians proved to be too much as they pulled away from an 18-17 lead by showcasing their strong net defense led by Lara Maric.
Australia went on a 4-0 run, with three points coming from Maric, to take a 22-17 advantage.
From there, both teams traded hits before Australia finished it off and claimed ninth place.
