Nats hit into wall in Kazakhs

MANILA, Philippines — Facing its toughest foe to date, Alas Pilipinas crumbled and succumbed to the taller, more experienced Kazakhstan side, 25-23, 25-21, 25-14, last night and thus settled for a shot at third place in the AVC Women’s Challenge Cup.

It was the home team’s first defeat after an amazing run in the group stage, denying the Nationals a chance at a golden finish in this blue-ribbon event at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Instead, it will be Kazakhstan versus defending champion Vietnam in the fight for top honors at 7 p.m. tonight. Alas Pilipinas battles Australia for the bronze at 5 p.m.

Imposing their height advantage, the Kazakhs roared to a mighty 20-10 start but the Filipinas didn’t give up and, with sheer will, clawed their way back, 23-24, before skipper Sana Anorkulova unloaded a kill  to preserve the set for her team.

Just like in the opening set, Kazakhstan dictated the pace in the second where it led by as many as five points then found answers every time Alas Pilipinas tried to fight back.

Then the Kazakhs simply went for the kill in the third.

Anarkulova finished with a match-high 19 points while Alas Pilipinas found the seldom-used Arah Ellah Panique as the surprise top scorer with 14 hits

It wasn’t really a surprise that defending champion Vietnam is back in the finals.

The Vietnamese lived up to expectation, pulling off an emphatic 27-25, 25-10, 25-10 drubbing of the Australians.

It was made more impressive by the fact that the many-time Southeast Asian Games podium finishers accomplished the feat with leader Tran Thi Thanh Thuy, popularly called T4, just sitting and watching helplessly from the bench due to knee issues.

Earlier, India dumped Indonesia, 25-16, 30-32, 25-20, 27-25, and Iran trounced Hong Kong, 26-24, 26-24, 19-25, 25-19, to arrange a battle for fifth place.

Indonesia and Hong Kong will face off for No. 7.