China’s Zhejiang inflicts Blaze Spikers 3rd loss

MANILA, Philippines - Petron fell prey to Zhejiang of China’s power and size and absorbed another loss, 14-25, 16-25, 20-25, in the 2015 AVC Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship at the Ha Nam Competition Hall in Phy Ly, Vietnam late Wednesday.

Zhejiang, reigning champion in the Chinese Volleyball League, overpowered the Blaze Spikers in one hour, two minutes to remain unscathed in the tournament which serves as qualifier in the FIVB World Women’s Club Volleyball Championship next year.

The Chinese will enter the quarterfinals on top of Pool B together with Taiwan Power, which also emerged undefeated in Pool A.

The Blaze Spikers, on the other hand, closed out its campaign in pool play with only a win in four games. They are set to face the Taiwanese in the knockout quarterfinals Friday.

“The road to a better finish gets tougher from here,” said Petron coach George Pascua. “The Chinese were too tall, too strong for us to handle. We may have lost the game, but it was a good experience for us. Now, our mission is to win in the quarterfinals and classification phase to somehow come up with a better finish.”

Bannered by a handful of national team members, Zhejiang raced to a quick 7-1 start on its way to a first-set cruise. The Chinese re-asserted their might in the second set while pouncing on Petron’s erratic defense and poor receptions.

But Dindin Santiago put up a gallant stand in the third, coming through with attacks that shoved Petron to a 7-6 edge before Wang Hiumin scored on a razor-sharp kill from the left flank to regain the lead for the Chinese after the first technical timeout, 8-7.

It was all Zhejiang from there as Wang and Yuezhou Zhu combined to keep the Chinese ahead, 23-19. Then, Wang delivered the match point with a kill from the middle to seal the victory.

Ying Li registered 10 kills for a total of 11 points while Yunyun Bao chipped in 10 markers for the Chinese, who are looking to knock the crown off the head of reigning champion Hisamitsu Springs of Japan.

Manabat, meanwhile, served as the lone bright spot for the Blaze Spikers as she finished with 11 kills and two aces for a total of 14 points.

Brazilian import Rupia Inck Furtado continued to struggle with only seven hits while Frances Molino, Rachel Anne Daquis and Aby Marano were quiet offensively as they finished with a combined eight points.