Rebisco-Philippines played its best game in the Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship, giving Thailand’s Diamond Food everything to handle before dropping a 34-36, 26-25, 28-26, 19-25, 12-15, Monday night at the Terminal 21 competition hall in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.
Instead of looking fatigued on their fourth match in as many days, the Filipinos played inspired volleyball, pushing last year’s Thailand League runners-up to the limit before ending their Pool B stint in fifth spot.
Mark Alfafara’s off the block hit gave Rebisco a 5-2 lead in the deciding set and was still ahead, 9-6, when Diamond Food turned to Kantapat Koonmee to prevail in the two hours and 55 minutes.
The defeat dropped the Filipinos to the 9th-10th place match where they will face the last-placed team in Pool A.
Despite the setback, coach Dante Alinsunurin was very satisfied of his troops’ performance that will surely make Filipino fans proud.
Jao Umandal, Rebisco’s leading scorer in the continental club competition, came through with 26 points, Mark Alfafara added 23 points, including a team-best three blocks, while skipper John Vic de Guzman had 16 points.
With the trio leading the attack, Rebisco had several five-point leads to start the match and was leading 19-15 when Diamond Food stormed back to tie the first set at 20-20.
It was a seesaw battle from there as the Thais snatched the protracted first set (36-34) which lasted for 46 minutes—with the Filipinos squandering several opportunities to close it out.
Rebisco was dragged to an extended second set, but this time around, things went to its favor.
Ysay Marasigan put the Filipinos at set point, 25-24, and Rebisco got a huge break on the next rally, winning a challenge as Diamond Food was called with a foot fault violation on Kantapat to tie at one set apiece.
Umandal scored off a combination play for the Filipinos to tie the third set at 16-16 when the Thais unloaded six unanswered points capped by a Pusit Phonarin’s crosscourt shot for a 22-16 advantage.
“This serves as a huge lesson for us all. We came here to compete and to learn, and exit the tournament with nothing but all the lessons we can gain,” Umandal said.
“This is the time for us to know our games better inside the court, and we will use this experience to further determine how we can improve ourselves.”
“We know we could have won, it’s just we had some lapses at the end game. In the fourth set, our intensity went down because we were so excited after taking a 2-1 lead,” Umandal said. “But when the fifth set came, we started fresh and forgot about everything that happened in the first and fourth sets. I still believe we did our best to perform and try to win.”
Blocking was Rebisco’s best friend in a telling 8-0 run to seized a 24-22 advantage. Diamond Food then saved two set points to prolong the third set.
The Filipinos booked another nail-biter, 28-26, as the Thais’ lost on a challenge as Kantapat’s attack went wide, giving their opponents a 2-1 set lead.
A game Pusit then delivered the goods in the fourth set for Diamond Food to send the thrilling match to a decider.
Kantapat had 36 points while Pusit sizzled with 28 for the Thais, who improved to 2-1 won-lost.
Head coach Dante Alinsunurin kept his hopes aloft with the team’s steady improvement over the course of the tournament.
Alinsunurin gave equal recognition to his players who showed grit and hunger in their return to the court.
“Everyone definitely performed. We have been through a lot since 2019, we would have wanted our program to continue nonstop but the pandemic spoiled all our plans,” Alinsunurin said. “But with the results that we have seen since the first game, I am really contented because the players did everything they can.”
“This is our first time stepping in to a tournament of this scale,” he said. “I am really delighted with our team’s performance even when we did not win. We truly have learned a lot.”
The national men’s team’s participation in the championship is supported the Philippine Sports Commission, Rebisco, Taguig Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano and Asics.