Alas Pilipinas bows to Indonesia, exits SEA V Cup semifinal race

Alas Pilipinas' hopes of reaching the podium in the 2026 Southeast Asian Men's V Cup came to an end after a straight-set loss to defending AVC Men's Cup champion Indonesia, 20-25, 23-25, 25-27, on Friday at the Candon City Arena in Ilocos Sur.

The defeat left the Filipinos winless in Pool A following their earlier five-set setback against Cambodia, dropping them into the fifth-place classification match against Myanmar on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Despite the elimination, head coach Angiolino Frigoni commended the determination displayed by his young squad, with most of the players making their international debut.

"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.

"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 Philippines looked ready to force a fourth set after racing to a 14-8 lead in the third behind the efforts of Jian Salarzon, Joshua Magalaman, Jude Garcia, and Adrian Villados, while Indonesia struggled with unforced errors.

Indonesia responded with a strong rally, erasing an 11-16 deficit with a 6-1 run to tie the set at 17 as the Filipinos committed a series of costly mistakes.

Alas Pilipinas regained momentum and moved within two points of extending the match at 23-21, but Boy Arabi sparked Indonesia's late push with a crucial attack before a Garcia error evened the score again.

With the teams trading points, Ahmad Gumilar slipped a quick hit through the Philippine block to put Indonesia ahead, 26-25. On the next rally, Garcia's attack sailed long, sealing Indonesia's straight-set victory after one hour and 30 minutes.

The Filipinos showed improvement in limiting errors, committing 23 after giving away 46 points through miscues against Cambodia. However, 11 of those errors came in the pivotal third set, where they squandered a six-point advantage.

Magalaman paced Alas Pilipinas with 13 points on eight attacks and five blocks. Garcia contributed 10 points despite converting only nine of his 31 attack attempts, while Salarzon impressed in his tournament debut with eight points. Lirick Mendoza also finished with eight markers.

Indonesia completed a 2-0 sweep of Pool A to advance to the crossover semifinals against Vietnam. Cambodia also secured a semifinal berth and will face Pool B leader Thailand.

Earlier, Vietnam clinched the other semifinal spot from Pool B with a 25-18, 25-23, 25-19 victory over Myanmar.

Nguyen Ngoc Thuan led Vietnam with 22 points built on 17 attacks, four aces, and a block. Pham Quoc Du added 13 points, while Tran Duy Tuyen chipped in nine.

Kyaw Aung Myo scored 13 points for Myanmar, which finished winless in the pool stage and will meet the Philippines in the battle for fifth place.