BANGKOK — Alas Pilipinas got a reality check after suffering a 20-25, 19-25, 21-25, loss to Thailand in the semifinal of the 33rd Southeast Asian Games men’s indoor volleyball competition Thursday at the Indoor Stadium Huamark here.
Troubled by errors and Thailand’s superb net defense, Alas main guns Bryan Bagunas and Marck Espejo were silenced, with only Leo Ordiales doing most of the heavy lifting on offense.
Alas’ second straight loss ended its chase for a breakthrough gold medal as the Filipinos missed the championship round for the third straight staging of the biennial meet since a runner-up finish in the 2019 Manila edition.
The Angiolino Frigoni-mentored squad will still have a chance to end a six-year podium drought in the battle for bronze against Vietnam today at 4 p.m. (Manila time).    
Thailand will try to end the reign of three-time champion Indonesia, which survived a scare from the Vietnamese, 21-25, 20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 15-10, in the other semis duel.  
Napadet Bhinijdee and Kissada Nilsawai fueled the Thais’ early control of the match, keeping Alas at bay with timely answers each time the Philippines tried to make a run.
Alas threw away 24 points from errors, mostly from the service line - the same problem it had in a straight sets loss to Indonesia at the end of pool play last Tuesday.
Ordiales finished with 25 points built from 23 kills and two aces while Bagunas had a quiet 11 markers on a 10-of-22 spiking clip for Alas.
Espejo was limited to just five markers on 5-of-16 attacks.
“I'm speechless because we didn't expect this result for this game. Before the game, we talked about fighting for the chance to get back in the gold medal round . But maybe it's not meant to be,” said Bagunas.
Compared to how the team played in their last semis meeting, where it dethroned Thailand in a five-set thriller, Alas came in the game missing the fire from six years ago.
“We don't have the fire. Every point, we feel like we're  not celebrating. It doesn't feel that we're inside court. We don't have the confidence,” Bagunas added.
Alas went down, 9-18, in the third set but fought back with an 11-4 run to close in, 20-22, capped by an Ordiales kill block.
Phanram Anurak stopped Thailand’s bleeding before Ordiales scored again for Alas. Napadet pushed the Thais at match point before Chaiwat Thungkham sealed the win with a kill block on Ordiales.
Bhinijdee fired 19 points while Nilsawai had 10 markers for Thailand, who limited their miscues to just 10.