THE Philippines put away a South Korea team made up of mostly teenagers, 25-18, 25-13, 25-17, to reach the quarterfinals of the Asian Volleyball Confederation Cup for Women on Thursday at the PhilSports Arena.
Jema Galanza and Tots Carlos led the way with 12 and 11 points each as the hosts put away a second successive win and punched a ticket to the Final 8, where they will face reigning SEA Games champion Thailand on Saturday.
[READ: Pags Panaga regains confidence just in time]
"Hopefully gumanda pa 'yung performance namin sa quarterfinals. Meron kaming one day [for] preparation so gagawin namin yung best namin para makapag-perform ng maganda," said national coach Sherwin Meneses.
The Philippines finished with a 2-2 (win-loss) record, good for third place in Pool A while the youthful Korean side finished ninth in the tournament.
Galanza dropped six points in the opening set to set the tone against a Korean squad whose average is 17 years old.
Despite their inexperience, the Koreans fought back and saved five set points, 24-18, behind the heroics of 16-year-old Choi Ho Sun before her teammate committed a service error that cost the set.
After struggling to close the first set, the Philippines never looked back, with middle blockers Lorie Bernardo and Pauline Soriano even contributing with three and two points each off the bench in the straight-sets victory.
"Yung bench naman namin talaga laging ready yan kasi sa ensayo pare-pareho ang ginagawa. Expected naman na magpeperform sila," Meneses said.
Kim Yesul paced the Koreans with nine points off the bench while captain and most senior player Hwang Jimin contributed eight points in a losing effort.
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