Alas Pilipinas saw its two-game winning streak snap after suffering a 25-16, 21-25, 26-24, 23-25, 13-15 setback to Iran in the AVC Women’s Volleyball Nations Cup at the Dong Anh District Center for Culture, Information and Sports in Hanoi last Monday.
Eya Laure and Dell Palomata submitted solid performances, but they faltered down the stretch, allowing the Iranians to fight back and secure their second win in three matches.
With the setback, the Filipinas are now at solo third spot with 2-1 win-loss mark behind the unbeaten Iran and Kazakhstan in Group B.
The top two teams will advance to the crossover semifinals and will face the top two squads in Group A composed of India, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Australia and Chinese Taipei.
Laure fired 16 points while Palomata had 10 markers for the Philippines, which was already on the verge of winning the match with a 13-11 lead in the fifth set.
But the Iranians fired three straight points capped by an error by attacker Angel Canino to reach the match point.
Although Alas got a lifeline after the error of Shaina Nitura got overturned, Zahra Salehi scored on a kill block on Canino to seal the victory.
Alas Pilipinas will have a chance to bounce back and make it to the top two when it battles New Zealand on Wednesday.