INQUIRER Sports

THE PHILIPPINES rammed into a bigger and more powerful Kazakhstan squad and dropped a 19-25, 14-25, 18-25 decision yesterday, dimming its chances of advancing to the quarterfinals of the 15th Asian Senior Men?s Volleyball Championship at the San Andres Gym in Manila.

Overwhelmed by a power game considered as one of the strongest in this tournament, the Filipinos could do little to stop the Kazakhs, backstopped by 6-foot-11 attackers Anton Yudin and Svyatoslav Miklashevich, who combined for 28 points.

?They were too tall and their attacks too heavy for us,? RP skipper Dante Alinsunurin said in Filipino. ?We couldn?t receive properly, so we couldn?t execute well.?

It was the second straight loss for the Filipinos, who also bowed to Myanmar in five sets Sunday night.

The Philippines is hard-pressed to beat Chinese Taipei on Thursday. But the Filipinos are hoping that Chinese-Taipei loses to Kazakhstan today and Myanmar also bows to Kazakhstan on Thursday for a possible triple-tie for the second quarterfinal slot in Pool C.

Chinese-Taipei rallied past Myanmar, 22-25, 16-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-9, late Monday night.

The Kazakhs needed just one match point to finish off the Filipinos in 58 minutes on Miklashevich?s jump serve, his third and last ace.

With Yudin shining early, the Kazakhs won eight of the first nine points en route to taking the opening set in just 18 minutes.

After splitting the first six points of the second set, the Kazakhs took 10 of the next 12 rallies to move on the brink of victory.

There were rare moments of brilliance from the Filipinos in the third set with University of Santo Tomas stalwart Oliver Balse putting away a clean kill after a long rally and Philippine Army?s Edjet Mabbayad smashing through the double block of Yudin and 6-foot-6 Marat Imangaliyev to cut the lead, 11-13, in the third set.

The 27-year-old Yudin restored order, though, with three successive kills and a service ace that had the Kazakhs, who scored 32 points off 65 attacks and held a 10-0 advantage in blocks, pulling away for good, 21-14.

In Pool C, Vietnam bounced back with a resounding 25-23, 25-17, 25-22 victory over Hong Kong to even its card to 1-1, while Lebanon, stung by a four-set loss to Australia Sunday night, overpowered the Maldives, 25-19, 25-13, 25-13.

The defending champion Aussies geared up for their clash with four-time titlist South Korea with a 25-17, 25-13, 25-12 drubbing of the Maldives Monday. The Aussies and Koreans, who will clash at noon today, share the Pool D lead with 2-0 records.

Japan smashed India, 25-17, 24-26, 25-20, 25-22, in its debut in Pool B, where Indonesia sets the pace with a 2-0 record.