THE Philippines settled for the ninth place in the AVC Asian Cup, defeating Kazakhstan, 25-13, 23-25, 25-22, 17-25, 15-8, on Saturday at Chartchai Hall in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.
Cha Cruz-Behag, who had 16 points, built on 14 attacks, delivered the goods late in the fifth set to bail out the Pinay spikers.
From an, 8-7, contest, the Philippines closed out the match with a 7-1 run, five coming from Cruz-Behag.
The Philippines, which ended its campaign with two wins - both against Kazakhstan - in five outings, was relegated to the AVC Challenge Cup in 2020.
“It was not a bad performance, not at all,” said Philippines coach Shaq delos Santos.
In the pool stage, the Philippines imposed threat on Australia and Iran as both of their matches went five sets but a loss to Korea in the classification phase put the Pinay spikers in the battle-for-ninth.
Mylene Paat finished with 18 points, while Alyssa Valdez also had 17 markers for the Philippines.
Dinara Syzdykova and Diana Grokhotova each had 16 points for Kazakhstan, while Zarina Sitkazinova and Ainagul Aizharikhova made 11 markers apiece.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
