MANILA – Dindin Santiago-Manabat and Mylene Paat joined forces as the Nakhon Ratchasima QminC salvaged a bronze medal finish in the 2021-2022 Volleyball Thailand League.
The two Filipina imports played a huge role as Nakhon Ratchasima defeated Khonkaen Star, 25-18, 25-23, 21-25, 25-14, on Sunday at the Nimibutr Stadium in Bangkok.
Nakhon Ratchasima fell to the battle-for-bronze medal match after being defeated by Diamond Food in straight sets in the semifinals round last Saturday.
After handily winning the first set, Nakhon Ratchasima found themselves down 17-20 in the second frame before unloading an 8-3 blast capped by three straight points by Patcharaporn Sittisad for a 2-0 set edge.
Khonkaen Star stayed alive by snatching the third frame but Nakhon Ratchasima regained its bearings in the fourth frame with an 8-4 start en route to an easy set win.
Hathairat Jarat, Em-Orn Phanusit, and Promrat carried the fight for the Khonkaen Star, particularly in the third set, as they suffer their second straight loss to Nakhon.
Overall, it was an impressive showing for Paat and Santiago-Manabat as imports for the Nakhon Ratchasima as they reached all the way to the semis despite an up and down performance in the preliminaries.
Paat was the first to be tapped to play for Nakhon Ratchasima in the first round of the Volleyball Thailand League before Santiago-Manabat followed in the second round.
For Paat, this was her first time to be called up to play as import overseas, while this was Santiago-Manabat’s second stint after previously playing in Japan V.League.
With their campaign with Nakhon Ratchasima now over, Santiago-Manabat and Paat are set to return to Chery Tiggo Crossovers for their title defense in the 2022 Premier Volleyball League Open Conference this March./PN
