Thailand fell short in their bid to claim the inaugural SEA V-League volleyball women's tournament top honours after suffering a 3-2 loss to arch-rivals Vietnam on Sunday night.
Thailand were impressive in their earlier outings at Ninh Binh Gymnasium in Ninh Binh, Vietnam, blanking Indonesia 3-0 and defeating the Philippines 3-1.
Vietnam, on their part, dominated Indonesia 3-0 and trounced the Philippines by the same scoreline in their first two matches of the league.
It turned out to be a sweet revenge for the Vietnamese, who were edged 3-2 by Thailand for their only first-leg loss in Nakhon Ratchasima last week.
The Thai girls started off well, taking the first two sets 25-17 and 26-24. However, they failed in their bid to wrap up the match quickly as they were outplayed 25-17 by a rejuvenated Vietnam in the third.
Vietnam continued their fightback to take the match-levelling fourth set 25-22 before edging the decider 16-14 to bag the title.
The Philippines finished third after their 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 28-26) victory over Indonesia.
Thailand coach Kiatipong Ratchatakriengkrai said: "It was a difficult match, but we came to the venue expecting to have a tough game. We knew that Vietnam are using their top players like their No.10 Nguyen Thi Bich Tuyen in this event, but it's never easy to play Vietnam in their own country.
"I think our players did their job very well. We have noted the potential of some of the young players in this tournament.
"We have to take care of our shortcomings before the World Championship and SEA Games."