Achilles Domingo

Alas Pilipinas crumbled from quarter finals contention after a costly 19-25, 25-23, 28-30, 20-25, loss against the world ranked no. 45 Chinese Taipei in the 2025 AVC Men’s Volleyball Nations Cup on Wednesday, June 18, at the Isha Bin Rashid Hall.

Photo Courtesy of AVC.

Alas Pilipinas sagged in the fourth set under relentless pressure from Chinese Taipei’s attacking duo, Cheng Yusheng and Wen Yi-Kai, whose combined 11-point scoring stunned the Filipinos, who were still recovering from a draining third set stumble.

Returning from a game one foot-injury scare, team captain Marck Espejo showed no signs of slowing down as he churned 26 points, 11 receptions, and 2 service aces to lift Alas over an early Taipei onslaught.

The Alas men struggled with first-set jitters, unable to breach the narrow 10-11 gap as Chinese Taipei stepped on the gas with a seven-point surge to seize the opening frame, 19-25.

Alas Pilipinas quickly shifted gears to snuff out the Chinese momentum, leaning on Espejo’s six-point barrage to maintain a slim two-point cushion and take the second set, 25-23, tying the game 1-all. 

The Filipinos failed to keep their momentum rolling until the end of the third set, although their spiker duo Leo Ordiales and Espejo unleashed seven points apiece, as costly errors in crunch time derailed them to a 28-30 heartbreak.

Momentum slipped further in the fourth as Alas struggled to generate offense despite back-to-back crosscourt hits from the Ordiales-Espejo duo, but it proved futile as Taipei blitzed with a deciding 6-2 to deny the Nationals a decider set, 25-19.

History seemed to repeat itself as Espejo suffered a left knee injury courtesy of a back-rank attack in the fourth set, yet he muscled through the pain and stayed on court to lead his team.

After dropping a record high of 22 points the night before, Ordiales boosted the Filipino arsenal with 15 markers alongside spiker-turned-libero Josh Ybañez’s 11 digs and 10 receptions to keep Chinese Taipei on its toes throughout the game.

Meanwhile, Cheng Yu-Sheng proved to be the spark plug for the Chinese squad, tallying a team-high 21 attacks of 24 points along with Yi-Kai Wen’s 14 markers to seal a quarterfinals berth.

The Philippine squad's loss leads to its third straight year in the classification route of the regional competition, facing off against Thailand and New Zealand for ninth place on Friday and Tuesday, respectively.