Alas Pilipinas Women’s gold medal bid came to a crushing halt after absorbing a straight-sets loss to Vietnam, 25-17, 25-14, 25-17, in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games on Sunday at the Hua Mark Indoor Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Despite the setback, the Philippines still has a chance to snap a 20-year medal drought as it advances to the bronze medal match against the loser of the Thailand–Indonesia semifinal on Monday at 4 p.m. at the same venue.
“I don’t have any doubts that our team, all of the players, and also the fans know that we’re gonna fight for this,” said Alas Women head coach Jorge Souza de Brito.
The Filipinas stayed within striking distance early, even grabbing a 15-14 lead off an Angel Canino back-row attack, before Vietnam—anchored by star Trần Thị Thanh Thúy—shifted gears and closed the opening set with an 11-2 run to take a 1-0 advantage.
The succeeding sets followed a similar script, with Vietnam gradually pulling away en route to its fourth straight and 12th overall appearance in the SEA Games gold medal match.
“Not about the result, but the consistency that we want is not yet there,” De Brito said.
“But they did good, our team did good, but they did better than us. It’s a competition, always. If they did better than us, even if we played really good, they beat us and we have to accept it and learn from this one,” he added.
Alyssa Solomon paced the Philippines with 10 points, while Canino struggled to find her rhythm, converting just nine of 29 attacks to finish with nine points in the 67-minute loss.
Eya Laure, who returned after missing the group stage due to a minor abdominal strain, chipped in seven points—four coming in the third set—while starters Amie Provido and Shaina Nitura contributed six and four points, respectively.
For Vietnam, Trần Thị Thanh Thúy—popularly known as T4—led the way with 15 points on an efficient 15-of-26 attacking clip. Vi Thị Như Quỳnh added 13 points built on nine attacks, three service aces, and one kill block.
Trần Thị Bích Thủy and Hoàng Thị Kiều Trinh finished with nine and eight points, respectively, to complete the win.
