Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons missed a potential Cinderella run in the Volleyball World Beach Volley Pro Tour Challenge after the Alas Pilipinas aces absorbed a nail-biting 18-21, 24-22, 15-12 Round-of-24 loss to Switzerland’s Annique Niederhauser and Menia Bentele on Friday night at the Nuvali Sands Court by Ayala Land in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

“It was a sorry loss,” Rondina said. “They (the Swiss) didn’t want to give up.”

The Filipinas looked poised to reach Saturday’s Round-of-16 in the extended second set, where the Swiss lost their composure after committing a series of service and return errors.

But Niederhauser and Bentele survived and sent the match to a decider, regrouping to frustrate the local bets.

“We tried our best to close out the match as hard as we could, but it didn’t go that way,” Rondina said.

“But we’ll take this loss as a learning experience, and we’ll be back stronger—especially in the Southeast Asian Games in December.”

Rondina and Pons were the last pair standing among the seven Philippine teams—four women and three men—in the event that ends Sunday.

Making the Round of 24, however, was already a breakthrough for Philippine beach volleyball. Rondina and Pons’ 21-19, 21-9 victory over the Slovenian tandem earlier in the day was the first win for any national team, men or women, in a Challenge tournament of the Beach Volleyball Tour.