The Philippines recovered from a slow start and displayed championship poise down the stretch to stun Australia in the classification phase of the AVC Cup for Women, Sunday at the Philsports Arena.
The Philippine national team, represented by the Creamline Cool Smashers, came away with a hard-earned 21-25, 25-19, 19-25, 25-18, 15-12 triumph against Australia to advance to the battle for fifth place.
It was another commendable effort for the Filipinas, who had less than 24 hours to recover from a four-set defeat to Thailand in the quarterfinals on Saturday night. They showed signs of weariness in the first set, but finished strong to outlast the taller Australian squad.
The Philippines will play Chinese Taipei for fifth place in the tournament. Chinese Taipei earlier swept Iran, 25-23, 25-19, 25-17, to secure their place in the match. Three players scored in double-digits for Taipei, led by Huang Ching-Hsuan with 14 points while Kan Ko-Hui and Chen Tzu-Ya each had 10 points.
