Foton Pilipinas Tornadoes ended their five-game losing skid to finish seventh in the 2016 AVC Asian Women's Club Championship after smashing T. Grand of Chinese-Taipei in an action packed three-set 25-17, 30-28, 25-23 victory on Sunday at the Alonte Sports Arena in Binan, Laguna in the Philippines.

Like Us on Facebook

The Tornadoes fell short of their aspiration of reaching the tournament's top four. However, with the victory, the United Asia Automotive Group-owned volleyball club got a consolation of surpassing what the last year's participating Philippine team had accomplished. Petron Tri-Activ Spikers wrapped up the tourney with an eighth place-finish last year in Vietnam.

According to ABS-CBN News, Foton Pilipinas beat Kwai Tsing of Hong Kong in three-straight sets to start up the team's campaign in the group stage with a big bang. However, the Philippine women squad endured disappointing five consecutive losses to register an overall tournament record of two victories in seven outings.

The Philippines bowed to top caliber squads of Kazakhstan, Japan, and China during the nine-day volleyball competition.

American reinforcement Lindsay Stalzer scored 18 points from kills while Ariel Usher had 15 points coming off 13 kills and a pair of kill blocks to lead the Tornadoes. Abigail Marano contributed 11 points while Jovelyn Gonzaga finished the game with 10 points.

"I think we are the stronger team and we were able to control each of the sets," said Stalzer, who will try to steer Foton Pilipinas to back-to-back titles in the upcoming 2016 Philippine Superliga Grand Prix next month.

Meanwhile, Japan's NEC Red Rockets claimed the AVC Women's Club Championship title after beating Ba'yi Shenzhen of China in the final round of the prestigious continental volleyball competition. The Japanese spikers overwhelmed the Chinese women in three-straight sets 25-23, 25-19, 25-21.

As the champions, the Japanese team will automatically qualify for the upcoming 2017 FIVB Women's Club World Championship.

Tagsfoton pilipinas, ba'yi Shenzhen, nec red rockets, 2016 AVC Asian Women’s Club Championship, fivb