BINAN CITY — Alyssa Valdez once again led the Philippines' gallant stand against a much taller Kazakhstan side in a 23-25, 20-25, 19-25 loss in the 19th AVC Asian Senior Women's Volleyball Championship on Friday at Alonte Sports Arena.
The hosts lost in straight sets but they had their moments against the Kazakhs, snatching an 18-17 lead in the second set mounting a brave rally that pulled them within 19-22 in the third set.
Those were enough to gladden the heart of the talismanic Valdez.
“Gusto namin matapos ang laban na lumalaban kami and I think we’ve shown it. Kinulang lang din talaga,” said Valdez, who still managed to come up with 14 points against the Kazakhs' tall blockers.
“It’s a given fact, we can’t do anything about their height but we can do something about our strategy and teamwork,” she added.
[See Pinays hit bump ahead of quarterfinals as Kazakhstan asserts supremacy]
The win put Kazakhstan on top of Pool A with a 2-0 win-loss record while the Philippines dropped to 1-1 entering the quarterfinals.
Kazakhstan will face the second seed from Pool C in Vietnam while the Philippines take on Pool C topnotcher South Korea at the start of the playoff round on Sunday.
Valdez said the experience from playing against the Kazakhs should go a long way in their buildup for the knockout match against Korea.
“I think one thing for sure, we really learned from this and hopefully madala namin sa laban sa Korea,” said Valdez.
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