In Sunday’s gold medal match, Day (Torrance, Calif.) and Ross (Carlsbad, Calif.) seeded ninth in Phuket, fell to China’s No. 11 Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia, 21-16, 21-18 in 36 minutes.
The silver medal is Day and Ross’s (5-2) best FIVB result and first ever podium finish. Their previous best FIVB finish was fourth in Long Beach, Calif.
“We wanted the gold obviously, but proud that we had such a great finish this tournament,” Day said in an FIVB press release. “They played an awesome match and really did well against us, so we couldn’t do too much.”
Ross was impressed by Xia, who is only 16 years old.
“I thought they were a great team and there’s just a lot to learn from them,” Ross said. “They’re great. I can’t believe that girl’s 16. Come on, how is that possible? She’s good.”
Day and Ross have played in seven FIVB tournaments together since teaming up at the beginning of the year and are already looking forward to what they can achieve in 2014.
“We really wanted a medal. That has been our goal all year, to earn an FIVB medal so I guess we achieved our goal, but obviously we want gold,” Day said. “This was our last tournament this season so we’re into off-season now and we’ll rest, regroup and get ready for next year.”