THE Philippines shook off its opening-game jitters to pull off a straight-set shocker over Kazakhstan, 25-19, 25-11, 28-26, to qualify in the round of eight of the 2015 Asian Women’s Under-23 Championship on Saturday at the Philsports Arena.
The PHL volleybelles won the first two sets convincingly, but the team received a huge scare in the third before suriving the rally, thanks to Alyssa Valdez and Jaja Santiago, who kept the team’s composure as they put in the game’s winning points to extend their life in the tournament.
Valdez, the team skipper and playing through the injured right-thumb injury, suffered a day earlier, scored 19 points off 16 attacks and three service aces. Santiago contributed 12 points, while Gretchel Soltones added nine points, 20 digs and 11 receptions to their cause of the host country, which keeps its hopes for a spot in the Ankara, Turkey, worlds afloat.
Prior to the game, the nationals’ coaching staff made a key adjustment of putting Myla Pablo in the starting unit to give their push into the last eight a huge boost. The ploy worked to perfection, as Pablo proved herself worthy of the coaching staff’s vote of confidence and made a huge impact early in the contest. The former National University utility made her presence felt, scrapping for points on their end of the floor and contributing much to their effort in holding serve most of the match. Pablo contributed eight markers during the contest.
In the second set, the inspired play of the Philippine squad spilled over, running roughshod on the frustrated Kazakhs and held serve with a 13-4 lead early and held their opponent to just 11 points during the set to secure a 2-0 lead in the contest.
Then, the relaxed play by the national volleybelles easily broke a 16-all tie in the third set with Pablo holding serve, thanks to the efforts of teammates Valdez and Gretchel Soltones that pushed their lead to 24-18.
But at set point, the taller Kazakh line took advantage of the Philippines’s complacency at set point and nearly completed their surprising late-match push, led by Yana Yagodina that extended the set and silenced the raucous home crowd. But their minispurt was short-lived, thanks to the Valdez-Santiago duo that salvaged the match points for the Philippines.
With the win, the Philippines momentarily leads Pool A and they have the chance to top the group if the world 36th-ranked Kazakhstan beats Iran in three or four sets. Kazakhstan and Iran square off in the final match at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Coach Roger Gorayeb said that the players controlled the tempo of the match, but the team still committed some of the mistakes during the first day against Iran that nearly cost them the third set.
“’Yung mga bata naging ecstatic, kasi naka-score sila ng 24-18 against a taller and more experienced and taller team. Feel na feel ko na kontrolado nila ang laro, kaya na-excite sila sa huli [at] doon lumabas ang pagkabata nila,” Gorayeb said.
“We started na maganda ang laro namin [against Iran], and it will be a very, very, very tough match against either Japan or Chinese Taipei,” he added. “Pero ang gusto namin, maglaro pa rin sila ng ganung [mataas na] level.”
Image credits: Kevin Dela Cruz