MANILA, Philippines -- Steven Rotter tried to will the Philippine men’s volleyball team to its maiden win in the Southeast Asia V-League on Sunday afternoon.
But Rotter ran out of gas as the Filipinos faltered in five sets against Vietnam, 25-22, 25-21, 18-25, 23-25, 10-15.
The Philippines started the fifth set with a morale-boosting point, but it all went downhill from there.
Various errors in the final set made the game out of reach for the Philippines as Vietnam's lead grew to five, 6-11, following an error by Rotter.
The Philippines tried to cut the lead down but only managed to get to within four, 10-14, following a Vietnam rotation error.
Rotter then sealed the deal for the Filipinos following a service error that went straight to the net.
The Philippines had a breezy first two sets as they tried to set the tone for the rest of the match.
Vietnam, however, bounced back in the third set, as errors hounded the Philippines.
The Vietnamese then pushed the game to a deciding fifth set as they stopped a late comeback attempt by the Filipinos.
The Philippines is the only winless team in the tourney at 0-3, while Vietnam is at a 1-2 win-loss record.
The next round of the competition will be held here in Santa Rosa, Laguna next week.