THE Philippine men’s and women’s beach volleyball teams bowed out of contention in the AVC Continental Cup semifinals on Friday in Nakhom Pathom, Thailand.
Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons bid farewell to their Olympic hopes after losing the golden match to Alice Zeimann and Shaunna Marie Polley of New Zealand 2, 21-19, 10-21, 15-12.
The ‘SiPons’ blew a rousing first-set win after Zeimann and Polley took full control of the last two sets to advance to the final round of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
New Zealand takes on Japan on Saturday in the semifinals. Both squads have qualified to the final round with reigning champion Australia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Kazakhstan and Vanuatu set from June 25 and 27.
Earlier, Rondina and Pons survived the tough challenge of Francesca Kirwan and Olivia MacDonald, 21-12, 17-21, 15-9, to force a decider.
Dij Rodriguez and Baby Love Barbon of Philippines 2, on the other hand, got swept by Zeimann and Polley of New Zealand 2, 14-21, 13-21.
Meanwhile, the Philippine men’s beach volleyball team stood no chance as it got swept by Australia.
Jaron Requinton and James Buytrago lost to Christopher McHugh and Damien Schumann of Australia 1, 11-21, 15-21.
Anthony Arbasto and Jude Garcia of Philippines 2 lost by forfeiture after a knee injury took the latter out of the game against Maximilian Guehrer and Zachery Schubert of Australia 2.
Australia and Japan clash for the lone men’s finals ticket on Saturday. The winner will join China, Indonesia, Iran, New Zealand, Oman, Qatar and Thailand.
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