MANILA – The Philippine women’s volleyball team showed their might against Cambodia with a 25-5, 25-5, 25-5 straight set victory in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games women’s volleyball on Tuesday night at the Indoor Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Diana Carlos and Mylene Paat anchored the offense for the Jose Edson Souza de Brito-mentored squad in the lopsided win for Cambodia, which joined the SEA Games women’s volleyball for the first time.
The lopsided victory also allowed Souza de Brito to rest team captain Alyssa Valdez, who is still recovering from her right knee injury that sidelined her in the 2023 Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference.
The Pinay Spikers were sizzling in the opening set with a 12-2 start against the inexperienced Cambodians before it reached 20-4 on back-to-back hits by Jessica Galanza and a block by Aklanon Dell Palomata.
In the second set, it was the tandem of Carlos and Paat who did wonders for the Philippine women’s team as they built a 20-3 advantage before Cambodian knocked it two more points for another five-point set.
The Pinay Spikers showed no mercy to the host team in the third set with Kat Tolentino connecting for a 10-1 start. The lead grew further to 18-5 later in the frame behind Carlos and Paat.
Meanwhile, the Philippine women’s football team failed to reach the semifinals round of women’s football despite its 2-1 victory over Vietnam on Tuesday night at the Smart RSN Stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Conversions from Sarina Bolden and Hali Long were not enough to propel the FIFA World Cup-bound Filipinas to the next round after Myanmar scored a 5-1 domination of Malaysia.
The Philippines, Vietnam and Myanmar all ended with six points apiece in Group A but it was the last two countries who qualified to the semifinals round due to their superior quotients.
This was the first time the national women’s football team failed to make the semifinals since the 2013 SEA Games as no competition was held in 2015 while 2017 followed a round robin format./PN
