Power Pinoys end Asian tiff at decent 7th

MANILA, Philippines – PLDT Home TVolution Philippines salvaged some measure of pride as it eked out a miraculous 25-19, 26-24, 13-25, 21-25, 15-13 victory over heavy favorite Zahraa Al Minaa Lebanon to finish a respectable seventh in the 2014 Asian Men's Club Volleyball Championship presented by PLDT Home Fibr at the MOA Arena in Pasay City Friday.

Down 7-9 in the deciding fifth set, the Power Pinoys went to Jeffrey Malabanan, who unloaded four clutch points to turn that deficit to a 14-13 lead before Alnakran Abdilla finished off the Lebanese with a crisp kill straight to an unguarded space on the right side up front.

It triggered a wild celebration for the Filipinos, who have made a good account of themselves by just making it in the quarterfinals as they played only their first international tournament after almost a decade of inactivity in the men's scene abroad.

"It was unbelievable, beyond our expectations," said Phl coach Francis Vicente, who shed tears of joy after its mammoth victory against a taller, well-funded team Lebanese squad.

"Going into the match, I told my players since we have nothing to lose and everything to gain, we should give it all, for the country, fans," he added.

Abdilla, a 21-year-old La Salle-Dasmarinas criminology graduate who hails from Bongao, Tawi Tawi, ended up leading all scorers with 25 hits, including 22 on kills while power-spiking Australian import Cedric LeGrand scattered 12.

It was, however, Malabanan who shone the brightest in the pivotal final set as he scored the bulk of his nine points that helped the Filipinos book their second win in this event that staked a slot in the World Club Championship in Brazil next month.

Lebanon though missed Brazilian reinforcement Bruno Furtado, who played at the start of the game but was pulled out early due to high fever.

Bruno's absence opened up chances for the Phl, which played beautiful volleyball in the first two sets when it squeaked out close wins over Lebanon to seize a 2-0 lead.

But the Lebanese adjusted, dominated the third and fourth sets and zoomed to a 9-7 lead in the last set.

Enter Malabanan and Abdilla.

It didn't help Lebanon that it will be fined $500 by the Asian Volleyball Confederation for wearing different set of uniform not assigned to them on this particular match.

"It's my fault, I thought we are scheduled to wear dark uniform," said Lebanon mentor Simon Atallah.

Meanwhile, Chinese Taipei, which finished third in the last staging a year back, consoled itself with a fifth place effort after overpowering South Gas Club Sports Iraq, 25-22, 25-18, 25-19.