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ndonesia fought back after losing two sets to defeat Vietnam 3-2 in the men’s volleyball 13th-16th placement round at Guangyao Gymnasium on Sunday.

Following their loss to Myanmar on Saturday, Vietnam performed with a refreshed defense, returning floaters and hits and digging out blocks in the first set. Indonesia, however, took the better part of the set just to warm up, missing easy hits and sending blocks outside.

Although Indonesia had difficulty blocking and returning the spikes of Ngoc Kien Pham and Quang Khanh Le, it was Indonesia’s errors, totaling 10 points, that gave Vietnam the first set at 25-22.

Vietnam wasted no time in second set, getting out to an 8-3 lead at the first technical timeout.
Although Indonesia scored more hits and blocks than Vietnam, Indonesia continued to trail on the scoreboard. After removing key hitter Maruf Herlambang from the line-up, the red and white flag team reduced its errors and leveled the score 19-19.

The team fought point for points until Minh Tuan Pham delivered a kill that brought the score to set point for Vietnam. A hit sent outside gave Vietnam the second set victory with a final 25-22 tally.

Determined to stay in the game, Indonesia came out blazing in the third set with good communication and strong play. Indonesia held Vietnam in the set with a strong 25-20 finish.

The six men steamrolled their momentum into the fourth set, finding gaps to lay down spike after spike. A block from Thai Hung Pham put Vietnam ahead in the game 21-20 before an Indonesian hit found the floor.

Indonesia then lead 24-21, but two kills from Vietnam kept the game alive at 24-23. After a timeout, Indonesia shut Vietnam down with a 25-23 finish.

Vietnam’s captain Van Kieu Ngo resumed play after missing the third and the fourth, but his presence did little to help his squad. Despite strong play from both teams, Indonesia closed the match 15-12 with a spike that bounced off Xuan Thanh Nguyen’s foot.

“It seems the players were on ‘anticlimax’ given their performance in the first two sets.

They wanted to put pressure on Vietnam, but they seemed too tired. They leveled the score near the end of the [first two] sets but they failed at the end,” assistant manager Paulus Waterpau told The Jakarta Post after the game.

Paulus said the victory was not only attributed to changing his team’s strategy, but was also partly because of the deflation of the Vietnamese team.

The Indonesian team realized their chances to win at the Asian Games were slim, but their target was to improve their world ranking and gain more experience before the upcoming 2011 Southeast Asia (SEA) Games in Palembang, South Sumatra, he added.

“We use to be ranked seventh in Asia, but we have no rank now because we missed the 2006 Doha Games. If we had won against Myanmar, we could have improved our rank to at least 11 or 12,” Paulus said.

The Indonesian team will face Mynamar in Zhongda Gymnasium in the 13th-14th place round Tuesday, while Vietnam will play in the 15th -16th placement round.

— JP/Matheos Viktor Messakh