Aussies roll back RP Youth volleybelles

Monday, 13 October 2008 13:20 inquirer.net

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MANILA - Despite the glaring height disparity, there seemed to be little difference between Australia and the Philippines.

But the Filipinos couldn’t make the most out of their good start in each set and bowed to the taller Australians, 21-25, 22-25, 23-25, Monday night in the 7th Asian Youth Girls Volleyball Championship at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

The Australians, bannered by a couple of six-footers in Eliza Hynes and Taylor Schulz, displayed a tenacious attacking game that proved decisive against the Philippines’ quick and dynamic style and earned them the top spot in Pool A.

Australian coach Adam Maskell was the first to admit that their height advantage worked wonders for his team.

“Definitely, our height advantage helped us a lot,” said Maskell, whose team faces Thailand for a place in the semifinals.

“We’re transforming our game into the European style which relies on big and powerful players. We stuck to our game plan and the first two sets worked like a charm.”

Despite the loss, the Filipinos, who won in straight sets over Sri Lanka Sunday, advanced to the quarterfinals against South Korea, which topped Pool C with a straight-sets victory over Iran, 25-9, 25-11, 25-9.

Korean coach Kim Hong-cheol said the Iranians looked uncomfortable wearing veils and sweat pants during the game.

“I respect their tradition but the players looked uncomfortable in their playing attire,” Kim said.

Behind Patty Orendain, who finished with a team-high 13 kills, the Filipinos started strongly, taking a 19-17 lead in the opening set only to fall into a spate of errors near the end that allowed the Australians to rack up eight of the next 10 points.

Chinese-Taipei also clinched a quarterfinal berth after getting 32 points from Huang Wei-wen in a 14-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-12, 15-12 come-from-behind win over Kazakhstan in 99 minutes.

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