ALAS Pilipinas Men bowed out of playoff contention in the 2025 AVC Men’s Volleyball Nations Cup after a 19-25, 25-23, 28-30, 20-25 loss to Chinese-Taipei on Wednesday in Manama, Bahrain.
The nationals end pool play without a win at 0-2.
READ: Double whammy for Alas Men after losing Espejo, match to Pakistan
Marck Espejo shrugged off ankle injury concerns from their opening loss to Pakistan by firing 26 points, 11 receptions and six digs in a losing effort.
However, he hurt his left knee in the closing stretch of the fourth set but was able to finish the match this time.
Leo Ordiales delivered off the bench again for the Philippines with 15 markers.
Spiker-turned-libero Josh Ybañez also impressed in his converted role for the national team with an 11-dig, 10-reception double-double.
Alas' 11-10 first-set lead vanished through a 9-2 Chinese-Taipei blitz en route to taking the driver's seat early in the match.
Tied at one set each, Alas had three set points on hand to take a 2-1 lead but was wiped off by ace spiker Yu-Sheng Chang, who had 24 points in their Nations Cup-opening victory.
Back-and-forth they went in the last two sets but the nationals ran out of gas and were marred by errors late in the match. They conceded 19 faults in total.
Classification games next for Alas Men
For the third straight year, the Philippines will be relegated to the classification stage of the regional tournament.
They are set to face the lowest-ranked teams from Pool A and D once pool play action wraps up on Thursday.
Alas Men finished 10th in the last two editions of the Nations Cup, formerly known as the Challenge Cup at the time.
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