Alas Pilipinas Girls suffered their first loss in the 22nd Princess Cup SEA U18 Women’s Volleyball Championship against host nation Thailand, 15-25, 12-25, 11-25, on Monday evening at the Nakhon Pathom Gymnasium.
The Philippines dropped to 2-1, tying for second place with Indonesia, while Thailand rose to 3-0, becoming the last remaining unbeaten squad in the six-team tournament.
The Filipinos will look to return to the win column tomorrow at 3 p.m. (Manila time) against Australia before capping the preliminaries against Indonesia.
After the single round-robin, the top two teams will clash in the final, the third and fourth squads will collide for bronze, and the bottom two teams will battle for fifth place.
Six-foot outside hitter Supawadee Panwilai was her usual dominant self, just like in the first two frames, while Sasikan Kanoiu provided backup as the host nation went on an 18-7 opening blast in the third for the straight-set victory against Alas in just one hour and 18 minutes.
Panwilai and Natharika Wasan carried the momentum from their first set win, bringing Thailand to a 15-4 hot start in the second, all the way to a commanding 2-0 set lead.
After exchanging points in the early part of the first frame, 7-7, Panwilai and Atitaya Kaewnok anchored the Thais to seven unanswered points to break it wide open en route to an opening 25-15 victory to set the tone.
Panwilai unleashed 18 points built on 13 attacks, three service aces, and two blocks for the still-undefeated Thailand.
Kanoiu also poured in 14 points in the victory that saw Kaewnok produce nine points, including five in the opening salvo.
Kimberly Rubin led the charge anew for the Filipinas with 11 points, while Denesse Daylisan had six points.
The Thais punished the Nationals in spiking and service departments, 41-18 and 8-1, respectively.
