CANDON, Ilocos Sur — Angiolino Frigoni held his head high despite Alas Pilipinas falling out of medal contention in the first leg of the 2026 Southeast Asian Men’s V Cup, saying he was proud of what his hastily-assembled squad accomplished.
Of the 14 players on the roster for the tournament, hosted by Candon City Mayor Eric Singson and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee, only five had previous experience with the Philippine men’s indoor national team. Still, the squad fought hard and pushed reigning AVC Cup champion Indonesia to the limit.
The Philippines’ medal hopes came to an end on Friday at the Candon City Arena after a hard-fought straight-set loss to Indonesia, 20-25, 23-25, 25-27.
Only Josh Ybañez, Louie Ramirez, Vince Lorenzo, and Lloyd Josafat returned from the 2025 FIVB Men’s World Championship squad, while Al-Bukharie Sali previously represented the country in the 2025 Southeast Asian Games.
Beach volleyball standout Jude Garcia made his indoor national team debut alongside fellow first-timers Greg Ancheta, Rodge Alejos, Adrian Villados, Lirick Mendoza, Vennie Ceballos, Jian Salarzon, Joshua Magalaman, and Van Book.
“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 the Italian tactician.
“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 team was only formed on May 15, and Frigoni believes the group that answered the call was the best they could assemble despite the limited preparation time. This, after several invited players, including former national team members, declined for various reasons.
Magalaman emerged as one of the bright spots, leading the Philippines in scoring in both of its Pool A matches. Garcia, Mendoza, Salarzon, and Alejos also turned in promising performances.
“This team has been with me since May 15. Some of the most well-known players are not here; that doesn’t matter. We are here with the best team that we can have now, but really, I am proud because I don’t know if the others will come back,” said Frigoni.
“If they come back — and some of them, they don’t deserve to come back, because these players (in the team now), they will fight also to stay in the national team. And some others that are not here, they are not fighters,” added the veteran coach.
“I don’t want to tell you the names. If you want, you can search for the names of the others, especially those who are not injured. They didn’t commit to the national team. Maybe they have their reasons, but it doesn’t matter to me. All my teams play good volleyball, and this team does too.”
The Philippines will wrap up its campaign on Saturday against Myanmar at 1:00 PM, hoping to salvage a fifth-place finish.
The second leg of the Southeast Asian Men’s V Cup will be held from July 22 to 26 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Despite missing out on the medal round, Frigoni stressed the value of giving his young national team players as much international exposure as possible.
“We fight, that’s it. We are not here to win. We are here to improve. For us, this match against Indonesia counts more than five matches won,” said Frigoni.
“For us, it’s very important to know what we need to be at eye level. Sometimes, we are there, but to be at eye level, we must be more continuous, but almost all of my players are very young, also. They have a future.”
