MANILA — Alas Pilipinas etched a historic milestone in Philippine beach volleyball after storming into the women’s gold-medal match of the Southeast Asian Games for the first time, sweeping Vietnam, 2-0, on Monday at the Jomtien Beach Arena in Pattaya.
Cherry Ann Rondina, Bernadeth Pons, Floremel Rodriguez, and Sunnie Villapando stayed unbeaten in four matches to formally secure a finals berth, achieving what no Philippine women’s beach volleyball team has done since the sport was introduced to the biennial meet in 2003.
Rondina and Pons set the tone by outlasting Vietnam’s Dinh Thi My Nga and Mai Hong Hanh, 21-18, 15-21, 15-10, in the opening match. Rodriguez and Villapando then delivered the clincher, edging Chau Ngoc Lan and Nguyen Le Thi Tuong Vy, 22-20, 19-21, 15-10, to seal the sweep.
With one elimination match remaining, the Filipinas will face defending champions Thailand on Wednesday in what serves as a preview of the gold-medal showdown scheduled on Friday.
The breakthrough marks the Philippines’ first-ever appearance in the women’s beach volleyball gold-medal match at the SEA Games, with Rondina and Pons playing key roles in two of the team’s historic victories.
Meanwhile, Alas Pilipinas fell short of ending a long-standing medal drought in indoor volleyball after absorbing another close loss to Indonesia in the women’s bronze medal match, 26-28, 25-13, 28-30, 24-26, at the Hua Mark Indoor Stadium.
It was the fourth straight SEA Games edition that the Filipinas bowed to Indonesia in a battle for third place, extending the country’s women’s indoor volleyball medal drought to 20 years and marking a fifth consecutive fourth-place finish.
Despite pushing the Indonesians to extended sets, Alas Women again saw crucial points in the closing moments slip away./PN
