Rebisco will enter the classification phase winless after bowing to Thailand’s Diamond Food in a five-set thriller, 34-36, 26-24, 28-26, 19-25, 12-15, in the 2021 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship Pool B at Terminal 21 Hall in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, Monday.
Six-foot-eight Kantapat Koonmee and opposite spiker Pusit Phonarinwere Diamond Food’s main source of offensive firepower with 36 and 28 points, respectively, to bag their second win in three matches.
Chaiwat Thungkam chimed in 14 points.
Twenty-two-year-old Jao Umandal continued his impressive sequence of games with a team-high 26 points. He also had help from Mark Alfafara and John Vic De Guzman with 23 and 16 points, respectively.
Meanwhile, JP Bugaoan added eight points. Ysay Marasigan, Rex Intal, and Kim Malabunga got four points apiece.
Rebisco raced to a 9-6 lead in the deciding set, but Diamond Food answered with four straight points to take the lead, 10-9.
The two sides then exchanged points to knot the frame at 11. Diamond Food finished the match with a 4-1 swing to take the victory, 15-12.
Ahead by a point in the fourth salvo, Diamond Food went on a 6-1 run to establish a six-point lead, 16-10.
And there was no comeback this time for the Filipinos, though. Instead, the Thais sent the match to a decider, 25-19.
Just when Diamond Food looked well on its way to taking the third frame, 22-16, Rebisco came up with eight unanswered points to take set point, 24-22.
The Thai club was still able to make it a 26-26 affair. But Bugaoan’s quick kill and an attack error from Koonmee gave Rebisco the 2-1 upper hand.
After a back-row attack by Koonmee to send the second canto to a deuce, Marasigan got one back through-the-block. Then an error by Diamond Food gave Rebisco the equalizer, 26-24.
The Thais ended the 46-minute marathon first period after back-to-back hits by Kissada Nilsawai and Koonmee, 36-34.
The Filipinos will play for ninth place on Wednesday, 4:30 PM, against the eventual fifth seed from Group A.
