Thursday, September 18, 2025

Alas Pilipinas Men's Volleyball Team Make History at the World Championships

Congratulations to the Alas Pilipinas Men's volleyball team for a fantastic showing at the FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championships (WCH) that were held in Metro Manila.

To qualify for the FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championships, you need to be (1) the defending champion, (2) a top three team in your continental championships, (3) one of the top 15 of the world rankings that have not yet qualified based on criteria 1 and 2, or (4) the event host. The Philippines was actually world # 88 in volleyball leading into this event so we were ranked very low compared to every other team that qualified but we made it to the pool because we were the hosts.

To be perfectly honest, I was worried that the Alas Men's team would lose comprehensively to all the other teams they would play against because everyone was ranked so much higher than we were. We were placed in Pool A with the Asian champions Iran, the African champions Egypt, and world #24 Tunisia. It was quite intimidating to think that we were ranked 64 places lower than the 2nd lowest ranked team in our pool.

And I guess the thought that we were up against volleyball powerhouses and that the Philippines was playing for the first time in the world championships made the team nervous. In our first match against Tunisia, we made way too many errors in the first set and calmed down a bit in the second before putting up a staunch fight in the third. The final score was 25-13, 25-17, 25-23 in favor of Tunisia. The first set was a bit of a blow-out but the tight third set showed that as long as we were not too nervous and that we played our game, we could actually compete (and maybe even beat) one of these top tier teams.

Our second game was against African champions Egypt. I got to watch this match on cable TV and it turned out to be very thrilling and exciting for the Philippines. When we edged out Egypt in an exceedingly tight 29-27 first set, the nation celebrated as it was the first ever set that the Philippines won at the World championships. Yahoo!!! Egypt took the second set but again, it was very close at 23-25. The way our team was playing, it felt like they really could compete against the world's best. And when we took the third set 25-21, we as a nation started to believe that maybe we could see it all the way through. When the Philippines finally took the fourth set at 25-21 and the game to stun Egypt in a surprise upset, the nation rejoiced. Egypt was ranked #20 in the world so we had just beaten a team ranked 68 places above us. Amazing!

The interesting thing about Pool A was that everyone had 1 win and 1 loss after their first two games. The Philippines beat Egypt who beat Iran who beat Tunisia who beat the Philippines. As such, the winners of final two games (Philippines vs Iran, Egypt vs Tunisia) would advance to the quarterfinal round. The Philippines had a chance, but to make it, we had to overcome the biggest obstacle we had in Pool A: world #14 Iran.

This match was the tightest one in Pool A and arguably, the entire World Championships. The Philippines and Iran split the first two sets, with the Philippines taking sets 1 and 3 and Iran taking sets 2 and 4. It all came down to set 5 and a race to 15. You have to say that Iran was heavily favored in that 5th set, being the Asian champions and having significantly more experience in the world stage. And when Iran led 10-6 in that final set, I thought they would run away with it. But the Philippines showed so much grit and poise and we actually held our own against the much higher ranked team. The team leveled the score and challenged Iran all the way through, resulting in the score going past the 15-point mark (you need to win a set with a lead of two).

The most painful moment in this match for the team and the nation happened when the Philippines was leading 19-18, with our 6th match point. We seemingly scored a monumental block, giving us the point and the match and everyone started celebrating the win. But Iran challenged the point, saying that we touched the net. Sadly, we did. this meant that instead of winning 20-18, we were now tied at 19-all. The sudden rush of adrenaline of the team and the possible relaxation after thinking you had already won followed by the feeling of having all that taken away was not an ideal mental state to be in. And Iran, who may have thought they were already eliminated then suddenly still have an opportunity to win, would then have their spirits buoyed by this second chance. Unfortunately for the Philippines, Iran did take this match four points later, beating us 22-20 in the fifth. We were so close to a quarterfinals appearance at the World Championships, only to have it taken away at the last minute. So it goes without saying that our team and many of our kababayans were gutted by the painful loss.

That said, the Philippines made a very strong statement in this global tournament. We played against the very best in the world and we held our own. So much so that we actually ranked 19 out of 32 teams. In fact, we placed right behind volleyball powerhouses Brazil and France and better than Japan and Germany. Whoa!

Many of our players made it to the top ten rankings of the individual skills: Bryan Bagunas was the #3 scorer, #7 best blocker (tied), and #9 best server (tied). Mark Espejo was the #4 best receiver, #7 best blocker  (tied), and #10 best server (tied). Owa Retamar was the #4 best setter and #9 best blocker (tied). Leo Ordiales was tied for #9 best server. Kim Malabunga was tied for #9 best blocker and #10 best server. And Josh Ybanez was the #5 best receiver and #7 best digger. These are sensational results for individuals and a team that was playing at the World Championships for the very first time. I also need to give major props and thanks to the team's coach, Angiolino Fragoni, and the rest of the coaching staff who did and continue to do an exceptional job making the team very competitive against some of the world's best and making exceptionally good decisions during our matches. The Alas Pilipinas Men's Volleyball team may not have made it to the quarterfinals, with some players openly expressing how painful that loss was, but they leave this tournament with their heads held very high. I can't help but feel very proud of this incredible team and I wish them even more success in the future.
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