Three places below their original semifinals goal, Foton Pilipinas made the most out of their last AVC Asian Women’s Club Championship match, sweeping Chinese Taipei’s Taechung Bank Grand 25-17, 30-28, 25-23 for seventh place at the Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan, Laguna.
Foton started the match with rejuvenated effort after coming off five straight losses. American imports Lindsay Stalzer and Ariel Usher dished out attacks which powered the hosts to an insurmountable 20-9 advantage.
But Pilipinas’ energy tailed off in the following frames. Taking advantage of Foton’s flat-footed defense and reception, T. Grand scorched Pilipinas with a four-point lead, 14-10. Foton crept back into the match, managing a 22-all tie after several substitutions. Maika Ortiz kept Foton in a highly-contested deuce, converting running hits that kept Pilipinas at advantage. Foton finally closed the set after an Ariel Usher hit then a soft Aby Maraño tip.
Foton again struggled to close out the young Taiwanese. Late errors allowed T. Grand to tie the set at 23 after Foron had maintained a steady four-point wall. Ariel Usher came out of a timeout and crushed a ball down-the-line, setting up Jovelyn Gonzaga’s game -winning combination play.
“You could say that there was a drop in effort in the last two sets from us but T. Grand also played really well. Their a young team and for them to put up a fight against us says a lot about their talent,” said Foton head coach Fabio Menta about their foes who are also Chinese Taipei’s new U-23 team.
Foton’s seventh-place finish is an improvement from the last two AWCC of Philippine teams wherein PLDT (2014) and Petron (2015) both finished in eighth.
“This shows that there is an improvement in the clubs in the Philippines. It might be small, but we’re starting. It is important that we keep building on our improvements and we stay determined,” Menta furthered.
Lindsay Stalzer topped all scorers with 18 points, Ariel Usher added 15, Abigail Maraño pitched in 11, while Jovelyn Gonzaga contributed 10. Foton relied heavily on their hitting as they surrendered 26 errors and eight aces.
T. Grand team captain Chiu Ya-Hui led the eighth placers with 13 points.
The Scores
Foton (3) – Stalzer 18, Usher 15, Maraño 10, Gonzaga 10, Santiago 6, Ortiz 4, Dimculangan 1, Rondina 1, General (L), Reyes (L)
T. Grand (0) – Chiu 13, Chang 5, Chen 5, Huang 5, Tsai 5, Liu 3, Huang C. 2, Huang M. 2, Chen J. 1, Liao 1, Wang 0, Wu (L)
