Alas Men gunning for strong finish

Alas Pilipinas begins its campaign to salvage a decent finish against regional rival Indonesia in the classification round of the 20th Asian Games men’s volleyball competition today at the Park Arena Komaki.

Winless in pool play, the Filipinos try to turn their fortune around at the 6 p.m. (Manila time) encounter with the Indonesians.

The embattled Alas made a gallant stand but failed to translate it into victories in Pool D, losing to Asian powerhouse South Korea and the previous Asiad edition’s runner-up China in straight sets before suffering a four-set defeat to Chinese Taipei on Tuesday.

Alas, in its second straight Asiad appearance after finishing 13th place in a tie with five other nations in the pandemic-delayed Hangzhou edition three years ago, will try to capture the elusive win and move on to the next phase of the round.

But for the Philippines to prevail, the team needs to lessen its errors. In the pool play, Alas averaged an atrocious 25.3 miscues per game.

“I think we need to lessen our errors in the next games for the classification. We also need to work on our composure inside the court,” Alas captain Bryan Bagunas said.

The Indonesians are coming off a five-set loss to defending champion Iran to wrap up their Pool B assignment.

Indonesia defeated Alas in their previous Asiad meeting in straight sets with a tight scoreline.

Alas head coach Angiolino Frigoni, aside from Bagunas, is also pinning his hopes on Leo Ordiales, Marck Espejo, Joshua Magalaman, setter Owa Retamar and libero Josh Ybañez.