ALAS Pilipinas yielded to seven-time defending champion Thailand, 22-25, 17-25, 26-24, 16-25, to stayed winless in Leg 2 of the 5th SEA V.League on Saturday in Ninh Binh, Vietnam.
The Nationals will enter the final match day no longer in contention for the gold medal, just like the last three editions of the regional meet.
READ: Alas unable to break Vietnam hex in SEA V.League Leg 2 opener
As such, this will be Alas’ fourth straight SEA V.League leg in which it will take on a familiar foe in Indonesia in a virtual battle for third on Sunday, 5 p.m. Manila time.
Alas has won all three prior occasions and now has a four-peat of bronze medals in its sights.
As far as head-to-head matchups go, the Philippines still hasn’t won against Thailand in 32 years since the 1993 SEA Games women’s volleyball gold medal match.
Thailand, however, dropped a set to the Philippines back in Leg 1 sans their reigning two-time tournament MVP in ace spiker Chatchu-on Moksri.
Now back in the mix for the World Championship-bound Thais, Alas still pulled off that herculean feat again of snatching a set away from Asia’s third-ranked side and eight-time undisputed SEA V.League champions.
Under fire online for a perplexing player rotation in the loss to Vietnam, Alas head coach Jorge Souza de Brito stuck with his main guns and introduced Bella Belen for the first time in the tournament.
But even her added firepower alongside fellow UAAP standouts Angel Canino, Alyssa Solomon and Shaina Nitura still wasn’t enough to tame a titanic Thai side that still hasn’t lost a game since the tournament’s inception in 2019.
It has now ballooned into a six-year, 26-game win streak that the Philippines can't crack.
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