Alas Pilipinas Boys move one win from historic ninth-place finish in Asian U18 Championship
Alas Pilipinas Boys stayed on course for their best-ever finish in the AVC Boys' U18 Volleyball Championship after sweeping Hong Kong-China, 25-18, 28-26, 25-13, in the 9th-12th classification round on Friday at Wuyuan River Gymnasium in Haikou, China.
The victory advanced the Filipinos to the ninth-place playoff against Indonesia on Saturday. A win would eclipse the country's previous best finish of 11th, achieved in Bahrain, and mark the Philippines' strongest campaign in the tournament since making its debut in 1997.
The Philippines set the tone from the outset, controlling the opening set for a comfortable 25-18 victory.
Hong Kong-China mounted a tougher challenge in the second frame, repeatedly erasing deficits before drawing level at 26-all. With the set hanging in the balance, Elijah Guzman came through with back-to-back attacks to secure a hard-fought 28-26 win and put Alas Pilipinas ahead by two sets.
Carrying that momentum into the third set, the Filipinos dominated behind the efforts of Al-Raquib Dais and Terrence Marticion. Their relentless offense proved too much for Hong Kong-China as Alas pulled away for a convincing 25-13 victory to complete the straight-set sweep.
Dais built on his tournament-best 25-point performance against Australia by finishing with 15 points on 12 attacks and three blocks. Marticion chipped in 14 points, while Guzman added six, including the decisive consecutive hits that sealed the pivotal second set.
"I know that we are out of the podium finish, but I believe that we can still get the best out of the circumstance. We continued playing harder since our goal is to top our eleventh-place finish in Bahrain," Guzman said.
"Facing Indonesia, we will do our very best to finish strong and finish ninth," he added.
Lik Chun Lau paced Hong Kong-China with 16 points in defeat.
In the semifinals, Japan and Iran booked their spots in the championship match, while Chinese Taipei and host China will battle for the bronze medal.
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