The Philippine women’s national volleyball team dropped to the battle for seventh place after losing to Iran, 20-25, 13-25, 16-25, in the 2023 AVC Challenge Cup classification phase on Saturday at the Tridharma Petrokimia Gresik in East Java, Indonesia.
After a back-and-forth affair in the first half of the opener, the Iranians ran away with a 9-3 blast that broke a 14-all deadlock and turned it into a 23-17 advantage.
Faith Nisperos and AC Miner tried to keep the Philippines afloat with consecutive points. However, Iran immediately moved to set point in the next play, before an Eli Soyud service error put the Iranians ahead, 1-0.
Iran took control of the match early in the second set, leading by as much as 11 points. Then it finished off the Filipinas and moved one set away from advancing to the fifth-place match.
The Filipinas were limited to just seven attacks in the second frame.
Just like in the opener, the Filipinas managed to keep pace with the Iranians in the third set until the latter unleashed a late rally that allowed them to secure a 25-16 victory and complete the sweep.
The Philippines is coming off a four-set loss to Australia yesterday, with scores of 18-25, 22-25, 25-21, 20-25, which eliminated them from contention.
The Filipinas will face Uzbekistan in the battle for seventh place tomorrow, Sunday, while Iran will advance to the fifth-place match against Australia.
