CANDON, Ilocos Sur — Alas Pilipinas’ medal hopes in the 2026 Southeast Asian Men’s V Cup first leg came to an end after absorbing a hard-fought 20-25, 23-25, 25-27 loss to Indonesia on Friday at the Candon City Arena here.
The Philippines finished its Pool A campaign winless after also falling to Cambodia in five sets last Wednesday.
Alas Pilipinas will now try to salvage fifth place in the regional tournament, hosted by Candon City Mayor Eric Singson and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee, when it faces winless Pool B side Myanmar on Saturday at 1 p.m.
“To the players we have in the middle of the court now, almost all of them are in their first international experience. And I said, I am proud of you, because they fight for every point,” said Alas head coach Angiolino Frigoni, noting that only five players on the roster had previous national team experience.
“We made mistakes, ok, we made mistakes. Some mistakes, but we are still there. And we play every point. And I am very proud of them,” the Italian added.
The Philippines mounted its strongest challenge in the third set, building a 14-8 lead behind the efforts of Jian Salarzon, Joshua Magalaman, Jude Garcia, and Adrian Villados, coupled with several Indonesian errors.
However, the reigning AVC Men’s Cup champions stayed composed and capitalized on crucial mistakes by the Filipinos.
Trailing 11-16, Indonesia erased the deficit and tied the set at 17 with a 6-1 run, three of the points coming off Philippine errors.
Alas regained control and moved ahead, 23-21, but a hit from Boy Arabi followed by a Garcia attack error tied the score once again.
After the two teams traded points, Ahmad Gumilar earned Indonesia its second match point with a quick attack that slipped through the Filipino blockers for a 26-25 lead. Garcia’s attack on the next rally then sailed long, ending the match in one hour and 30 minutes.
The Philippines cut its total errors in half after committing a costly 46 against Cambodia, finishing with 23 miscues. However, 11 of those errors came in the third set, where the Filipinos squandered a six-point advantage.
Magalaman led Alas Pilipinas in scoring for the second straight match with 13 points built on eight attacks and five blocks. Garcia added 10 points but struggled offensively, converting just nine of his 31 attack attempts.
Salarzon, who did not see action in the opener, made the most of his start with eight points, while Lirick Mendoza also finished with eight markers.
Indonesia improved to 2-0 and advanced to the crossover semifinals, where it will face Vietnam. Cambodia, meanwhile, will take on Pool B top seed Thailand in the other semifinal.
Earlier in the day, Vietnam secured the second semifinal berth from Pool B after sweeping Myanmar, 25-18, 25-23, 25-19.
Nguyen Ngoc Thuan paced the Vietnamese with 22 points on an efficient 17-of-24 attacking clip, along with four aces and one block.
Pham Quoc Du added 13 points, while Tran Duy Tuyen chipped in nine.
Kyaw Aung Myo scored 13 points for Myanmar, which dropped to the fifth-place classification match after finishing winless in the pool stage.
