ALAS Pilipinas Men failed to weather an early Pakistani storm as it yielded its 2025 AVC Men’s Volleyball Nations Cup opener in four sets, 18-25, 12-25, 25-18, 23-25, on Tuesday in Manama, Bahrain.
The Philippines’ playoff hopes now hang in the balance ahead of a must-win pool play finale against Chinese Taipei on Wednesday, 7 p.m. Manila time.
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A loss tomorrow would relegate Alas to 0-2 and into the classification stage for the third year running after back-to-back tenth-place finishes in the competition.
The nationals started flat off the bat as Asia’s eighth-ranked team wasted no time getting their shots down, led by 14 markers each from Pakistan’s Khan duo in Murad and Afad.
Piling onto Alas’ woes was team captain Marck Espejo’s injury scare where he apparently hurt his left ankle late in the first set after a missed attack attempt.
He only scored one point and no longer saw action for the rest of the match.
Leo Ordiales stepped up in the absence of Espejo as he topscored for Alas off the bench with 22 points on 15 attacks, five blocks and two aces.
From one opposite hitter to another, Steven Rotter had 10 points along with Ordiales’ National U co-winger in Buds Buddin.
Alas second unit almost saves the day
The introduction of Alas’ second stringers in Set 3 pumped new life to what was setting up to be an imminent Pakistani blowout win.
Ordiales had the likes of Buddin, Lloyd Josafat (five points) and Jackson Reed (four points) for company when they pulled off an 8-3 blitz to lead by as much as seven.
From 10-all in the fourth frame, Pakistan went on a series of mini-scoring runs every time Alas was on the verge of regaining control.
In the end, a successful block touch challenge from the South Asian side dealt an anti-climactic finish to Alas’ foiled comeback bid.
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