THE fancied but inexperienced Philippine women’s volletball team lost to Indonesia in straight sets, 22-25, 20-25, 14-25, in its comeback bid in the biennial regional Southeast Asian Games in Singapore.
The game was close only in the first set, and the Indonesians exploited every mistake of the Filipina volleybelles en route to securing their first win in just one hour and 51 minutes at the start of action in Group B.
Alyssa Valdez had 15 points in pacing the Filipinas but towering Jaja Santiago and elder sibling Dindin Santiago-Manabat were neutralized and only scored seven and two points, respectively.
“This game showed our lack of international experience and short preparations,” noted head coach Roger Gorayeb.
Some local volleyball pundits however feel the lack of defense may have contributed to the team’s loss.
“The team may have sent country’s best attackers but problem is we lack in terms of defense,” said coach Maxwell Semblante.
In another sad development, the Philippine Under-23 team lost to Indonesia, 0-2 to absorb its fourth straight setback in football.