The Philippines absorbed another painful defeat as it fell to Vietnam, 14-25, 16-25, 18-25, Tuesday night to miss out on a chance to make the finals of the 19th Princess Cup Southeast Asian Women’s Under-19 Championship in Sisaket, Thailand.
The defeat came after the Francis Vicente-mentored Nationals lost to powerhouse Thais, 14-25, 23-25, 16-25, in the group stages the day before, to end up the No. 2 seed in Pool and arranging a semis duel with the Vietnamese, who swept Pool B.
It turned out Vietnam was too hot to handle for the Phl.
The Filipinos hope to settle for the bronze medal as it was taking the Indonesians, who were subdued by the Thais, 19-25, 7-25, 20-25, in the other semis pairing, at press time.
The Phls’ other two wins came at the expense of Singapore, 25-9, 25-14, 25-23, Saturday and New Zealand, 25-23, 25-13, 17-25, 25-17, Sunday.
Phl team manager Peter Cayco, who also Arellano U’s representative to the NCAA board and a board member of the Larong Volleyball ng Pilipinas, Inc., said the team will go all out to win the bronze.