AVC Championship: Petron Blaze falls to Taiwan Power in quarters

MANILA, Philippines – Petron Blaze saw their aspirations for a title in the 2015 Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship end when they lost to Taiwan Power in 3 sets, 25-20, 25-16, 25-9, on Friday, September 18 at the Ha Nam Gym in Ha Nam, Vietnam.

With the match lasting for an hour and 7 minutes, Petron Blaze suffered their fourth overall defeat of the tournament – all via 3-set sweeps.

Petron, who entered the quarterfinals as the fourth seed from Pool B, also suffered defeats to the April 25 Sports club from North Korea, Hisamitsu Springs from Japan, and Zhejiang from China. Their lone victory of the tournament so far was against Azad University from Iran, who went a total 0-4.

Petron will be back in action over the next few days as they play in the classification matches for a chance at attaining fifth place.

Dindin Santiago-Manabat, Aby Marano, and Rachel Daquis led Petron in their defeat to Taiwan Power with 7 points each. Their opponents were spearheaded by Chang Chen-Yi, the lone double-digit scorer of the game who had 15 points.

Petron was out-spiked, 41-25, out-blocked, 7-1, and committed 22 errors that translated to points. 

Taiwan Power also had more excellent digs, 54-37.

The closest Petron came to a winning a set on Friday was in the first period, where the game tied at 18 at one point following a conversion by Adachi.

However, the Taiwan-based team answered with a 4-0 run that put them in the driver seat. Both teams then exchanged conversions, but Chen-Yi eventually sealed the first set for her team with a drop.

Taiwan Power took control the rest of the way. – Rappler.com