JAKARTA – The Philippine volleybelles came to within two points of shocking central Asian power Kazakhstan but missed a finishing kick in a close 11-25, 25-22, 15-25, 25-19, 14-16 defeat in the penultimate play date of the 18th Asian Games women’s volleyball competition at the GBK Indoor Tennis court here on Friday.
Alenssya Safronova hammered a point to break a 14-all deadlock in the fifth and deciding set, then herself blocked a spike by Jaja Santiago as the Kazakhs foiled the Filipinas’ upset bid and sent Team Philippines to a battle for seventh with the home team at 10 a.m. Saturday.
It will be a repeat of the Philippines-Indonesia match in group play last Saturday where power-hitting Indon star Aprilia Santini Manganang led the home team a 25-20, 25-20, 24-26, 25-22 win over the Filipinas.
The Indons had their own tough stand against Team Vietnam before dropping a 27-29, 25-18, 22-25, 22-25 loss earlier Friday.
But the Filipinas looked a lot better in their tough, tough challenge against the Kazakhs, the No. 3 quarterfinal qualifiers from Pool B.
Santiago was a lethal weapon at the net until her last drive was blocked by Safronova for the match and a place in the fight for fifth place for the Kazakhs.
The towering Filipina spiker top scored for Team Philippines with 19 points while Mylene Paat and Alyssa Valdez contributed 14 and 13, respectively, in their performance to remember in the Jakarta Games.
Coach Shaq delos Santos hoped they could bring their intensity and energy in their game against the Kazakhs in their grudge match with the Indons Saturday.
After forcing the deciding set in taking the fourth at 25-19, the Filipinas kept the Philippine crowd up on their feet in winning the first three points in the decider — two on Kazakhs’ attacking errors and one on a spike by Valdez.
The Filipinas then even led by four at 7-3 before but the Kazakhs refused to fold up and banked on Sofronava and Sana Anarkulova to pull abreast at 8-8.
The two teams fought toe-to-toe from there until the Kazakhs took the last two points for the match.