The Philippines U-18 girls volleyball team failed to sustain its fiery start to suffer a 14-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-19 defeat to India at the start of 14th Asian Women’s U18 Volleyball Championship on Monday at the Nakhon Pathom Sports Centre Gymnasium at Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.
The Jerry Yee-mentored Team Philippines surprised the opposition with a solid start in the first set but the Indians imposed its height dominance in the next three sets to take a 1-0 record in Group B.
Ana Hermosura and Jothea Ramos spearheaded Team Philippines in the first set as they raced to an 8-0 start, which later grew to 11-3 with consecutive service aces.
The Indians came up with consecutive points late in the opening set to remain within striking distance but Team Philippines got solid plays from Kimberly Rubin and Katherine Shaine Cortez to end the set.
India countered with a strong start in the second set as they build a 10-5 edge. Team Philippine clawed its way back to within 14-16 but the Indians pulled away to clinch the set.
Both squads were engaged in a tight battle in the third frame with no team establishing a huge lead but the Indian got timely conversions from Rajnandani Mitra to take a 2-1 set edge.
Team Philippines staged a determined comeback in the fourth set but still found India’s overwhelming dominance too good at the final stretch to surrender the match for good.
“It was a good start for us but, unfortunately, our players failed to sustain it,” said team manager Jose Montalbo. “But it is a learning experience for us heading to our next match.”
Team Philippines hopes to bounce back on Tuesday (12:30 pm) against Kazakhstan, which lost to Chinese Taipei earlier on Monday.
