Volleybelles drop bid for bronze

KUALA LUMPUR – The lady spikers, the darling of the Philippine SEAG delegation, suffered another defeat at the hands of Vietnam and ended their campaign here with a whimper.

Jaja Santiago and her teammates blew away an opening-set win and a strong start in the next, reeling down to a 2725, 22-25, 20-25, 21-25 loss to the Vietnamese in their bronze-medal match in the 29th SEA Games women’s volleyball competition at the MiTEC Hall 1.

They’re going home empty handed just like the last time in Singapore in 2015 with only one win to show – against Malaysia in their opening match – against three losses – to Vietnam, Thailand and once again to Vietnam in the final day.

They came out strong, winning a nip-and-tuck battle in the opening set but lost momentum when they yielded eight of 10 rallies to squander a 20-17 lead in the second set.

The Vietnamese, silver medalists in the last SEAG, then asserted their dominance in the next two sets, featuring the explosive attacks of Tran Thi Thanh Thuy and Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hoa.

Thus, they eased the heartache of their four-set loss to the Filipinas in their matchup in the Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship in Biñan, Laguna recently.

Santiago led their last stand, hammering an ace to get the Philippines within three at 19-22. But the towering spiker also accounted for the Phl error at match point as she sent a drive to the net.