Spikers collapse
The medal remains elusive for the national squad after it surrendered a heart-breaking 20-25, 26-24, 15-25, 25-20, 14-17 loss to Indonesia in the classification match of the women’s volleyball competition of the 30th Southeast Asian Games yesterday at the Philsports Arena.
Frances Molina paced the attack while Alyssa Valdez provided support for the Nationals, who missed their target of emerging with a podium finish in this prestigious biennial meet.
Molina had 17 points while Valdez registered 14 markers before sitting out in the fourth and fifth sets.
The Indonesians, the silver medalists in the previous biennial meet in Kuala Lumpur, banked on the hot smashes of Megawati Pertiwi, who torched the defense with 31 attacks to finish with 35 points.
National team head coach Shaq Delos Santos refused to issue a statement following the setback that cast doubts on the future of the national women’s team program.
Actually, the Nationals nearly pulled off a win and claimed their first medal since the 23rd edition of the Games in Bacolod City in 2005.
After dragging the match to a deciding fifth set, the Nationals were on the verge of winning as they captured the match point, 14-12.
But Megawati connected a down the line hit followed by an off-the-block bomb to complete the dramatic come-from-behind win, breaking the hearts of the massive Filipino crowd who trooped to the venue hoping to witness the nationals squad’s return to podium.