Alas pays for shaky start; men’s beach volley booted out

NAGOYA — A cold, cruel Sunday for Philippine volleyball.

Alas Pilipinas Men paid dearly for a shaky start and a pile of unforced errors, bowing to South Korea, 16-25, 25-27, 22-25, at the start of its campaign in the 20th Asian Games men’s volleyball tournament at the Park Arena Komaki.

It was heartbreak both on the Taraflex and on the sand.

Over at the Kehinan Ryokuchi Beach Court, Ronniel Rosales and James Buytrago dropped a must-win match to Indonesia’s Sofyan Rachman Efendi and Bintang Akbar, 13-21, 13-21.

Vietnam’s win over Mongolia later sealed their fate. Rosales and Buytrago crashed out of Pool C – the same fate suffered by fellow Filipinos Alnakran Abdilla and Lerry John Francisco in Pool A.

Left to carry the fight in beach volleyball are the women’s pairs – Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons, and Sofiah Pagara and Khylem Progella. Rondina and Pons face a host team while Pagara and Progella battle Hong Kong in the Round of 16 today.

Back indoors, Alas Pilipinas simply beat itself.

The Nationals gave away 23 points on errors – 13 from the service line – against world No. 25 Korea, the second most bemedalled team in Asian Games history behind Japan with a 3-7-4 gold-silver-bronze haul to Japan’s 8-2-3.

Ten errors, five on serve, buried the Filipinos early as Korea ran away with the opener.

Alas found its rhythm in the second, controlling the frame until Korea strung three straight to steal the lead, 21-20.

Bryan Bagunas, in a strong return to the national team with 15 points, put the Philippines on set point twice. But Alas couldn’t close. Bagunas hit long to give Korea set point at 26-25, and Leo Ordiales followed with another miscue, 27-25, for a 2-0 Korean lead.

Alas pushed again in the third but could not extend, 22-25.

Alas Men are in Pool D with South Korea, China and Chinese Taipei.

BAGUNAS RUES LACK OF SUPPPORT

Alas ace Bryan Bagunas rued facing a tough, tough battle even before the Asiad campaign, mentioning lack of financial support. “Mahirap; problema ang allowance. Kami-kaming players na lang ang nagtu-tulungan. Minsan, seven o eight players lang nakakarating sa ensayo, kasi walang pamasahe dahil mostly student athletes,” said Bagunas. For the Asian Games, he said they got allowance only from the Philippine Sports Commission.