The Philippine women's volleyball team remained winless in the 30th Southeast Asian Games after Indonesia prevailed in four sets, 22-25, 28-26, 25-22, 25-14, Saturday at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
Indonesia recovered from an error-prone start to close out the preliminary round with its first win of the tournament.
The Philippines, on the other hand, failed to sustain its momentum from the opening set as it fell to a 0-3 record.
The two teams will face off again for the bronze medal match Monday at the same venue.
"We feel like we wasted the first set. In the second and third sets, we were leading but it all boiled down to the endgame and how we can sustain it from start until the end," said skipper Aby Maraño. "Those are the lapses that we noticed, the common problems that we need to resolve."
The Philippines drew first blood by taking advantage of Indonesia's errors. After trailing by as many as five, Majoy Baron's back-to-back points off a quick hit and an ace started a run for the Filipina spikers. Maraño and Mylene Paat also contributed to tie the score at 16.
A series of attack errors from the Indonesians put the Philippines on top by three. Paat's block and another ace from Baron made it 24-21 before a service error by Indonesia gifted the set to the home team.
With Paat at the forefront, the Philippines got off to a hot start in the second set, aided by key plays from Eya Laure and Ces Molina. Indonesia, however, clawed back to overtake the Philippines at set point, 24-23.
Maraño and Molina helped the Philippines stay alive and even get to set point twice but the Indonesians completed their comeback to forge a 1-1 deadlock in the match.
After a tight see-saw battle early in the third set, Laure caught fire midway to bring the Philippines in front with a three-point cushion. Similar to the previous set, Indonesia used another late surge, highlighted by a 5-0 run, to steal the momentum and take a two-set advantage.
The fourth set turned out to be a lopsided affair. The Indonesians raced to 4-0 to dictate the tone and never relinquished control. The lead ballooned to as high as 11 points as the Philippines struggled to attack and defend.
Paat topped for the home team with 14 points built on 11 spikes and three blocks. Molina followed with 13 points alongside eight digs, and Baron added 12 points including three aces.
Playmaker Jia Morado tallied 21 excellent sets, while liberos Kath Arado and Dawn Macandili combined for 17 digs.
For Indonesia, Megawati Hangestri Pertiwi led the charge with 19 points. Ratri Wulandari delivered 18 points and 10 excellent receptions.