Four Alas Pilipinas pairs fell short at the start of the main draw action to drop to must-win situations in the Volleyball World 2025 Beach Pro Tour Challenge on Thursday at the Nuvali Sands Court by Ayala Land in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

First to fall when the sun shone brightly the whole day were James Buytrago and Ran Abdilla to a taller Australian duo of D’Artagnan Potts and Jack Pearse, 21-14, 21-18, in a Pool H morning session.

In the afternoon, Kly Orillaneda and Gen Eslapor lost to Finland’s Anniina Parkkinin and Vilhelmiina Prihti, 11-21, 15-21, in Pool H and Sonny Villapando and Dij Rodriguez bowed to New Zealand’s Shaunna Polley and Olivia MacDonald, 19-21, 14-21, in Pool D.

Then the celebrated pair of Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons yielded to world-ranked Thainara Mylena Feitosa de Oliveira and Talita Simonetti of Brazil, 17-21, 16-21, in Pool G play.

All’s not lost for Alas Pilipinas though, but they need to win the second of their main draw matches — and get the better end of possible tiebreaks — to advance further in the tournament.

“This is a first time for us in the Challenge, and we learned a lot of new things, but we’re not out yet,” Rondina said.