PHL bows to Chinese Taipei in straight sets in Asian U-23 volleyball

The Philippines once again bowed to Chinese Taipei in the classification round of the Asian U-23 Women's Volleyball Championship, 25-17 25-19 25-20, on Friday at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

The team earlier faced the Taiwanese squad in the seeding stage of the quarterfinals and managed to snag the first set, but Taipei recovered and swept the next three sets.

In their classification match, Chinese Taipei asserted their mastery of the Filipina squad despite their numerous service errors, and closed the game in straight sets.

After a slow first set with open spiker Gretchel Soltones having an off-game, the Philippines came back strong in the second set and led by as many as four points, 15-11.

But errors from the Philippines piled up and allowed to Taipei to take the lead, 19-18, after EJ Laure hit the ball long.

Chinese Taipei then completely took over with their blocking and strong attacks.

The Philippines found themselves down 8-2 in the third after losing momentum the previous set, but the team managed to tie the game at 16-all as the Taiwanese ladies also made errors.

A service error by Bea de Leon and two consecutive service aces for Taipei, however, put the visitors back in control en route to the quick victory.

The Philippines will clash with the loser between Iran and India in the battle for seventh place on Saturday. - RAF/JST, GMA News