Manila, Philippines, August 14, 2017 – Valdez Alyssa scored a team-high 20 points as Philippines edged Vietnam in closely-contested four sets 27-25 26-24 17-25 25-23 in the all-Aseans battle of their last top 8 playoff tussle at the SMM 19th Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship at the Alonte Sports Arena on Monday.
Both Vietnam and the Philippines similarly dropped to 0-2 win/loss record following their disappointing losses two times in a row to Korea and Kazakhstan in Pool E and confronted each other on Monday to determine the third and fourth positions in the pool. The winners in this match would finish third in Pool E and will next go up against Pool F second place Thailand in the knock-out quarter-finals, while the losers would be ranked fourth and are due to challenge Pool F winners Japan on Tuesday.
Though taking the home crowd advantage, Philippines found Vietnam a tough nut to crack as the host side attempted to come in full force. Vietnam advanced 24-20, but Philippines did not want to give up easily as they hit back bravely, with Santiago Alyja and Valdez leading the team’s onslaughts. Philippines caught up with the strong visitors at 24-24 and went on to win the close set 27-25.
The second set also ended in the same fashion when hosts Philippines clawed their ways back for the comeback 26-24 win in the set. Conceding straight two sets, Vietnam upped their tempo to snatch the third set 25-17, but still failed to make the grade in the fourth set to go down narrowly 23-25 and match.
Valdez Alyssa led Philippines with 20 points including 16 kills and 3 aces. Santiago added 16 kills and 2 aces for the winning team, while Tran Thi Thanh Thuy topscored 16 points for Vietnam including 3 aces. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hoa led the attacks with 15 kills, with Doan Thi Xuan had 3 block points.
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