Filipino pair makes history in beach volleyball U19 world meet in Thailand
Philippines’ Jayrack De la Noche and Alexander Iraya. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines made history as it captured its first win ever in the FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships Thursday in Phuket, Thailand.
Jayrack De la Noche and Alexander Iraya gave the country its first victory in a world championship meet with a come-from-behind three-setter over Estonia’s Karmo Saviauk and Kaur Erik Kais, 16-21, 21-15, 15-12, in their final match in Pool H.
The high school standouts from University of Santo Tomas finished the group stage with a 1-2 record and missed out on the Round of 24 due to an inferior set ratio of 2-4 to Thailand’s Narakorn Chumaphai and Veerayut Sopati, who also had a 1-2 record, at 5-5.
Australia, Estonia, and Thailand were the countries from Pool H to advance to the knockout rounds.
De La Noche and Iraya suffered a rude welcome to the competition when they lost to Chumapai and Sopati in their opening match, 21-15, 21-19 on Tuesday.
The Philippines then dropped its second match of the tournament on Wednesday losing to Australians Jack Pearse and Lucas Josefsen, 22-20, 21-19.
Though De la Noche and Iraya bowed out of the U19s, they will still represent the Philippines in the FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships slated December 14 to 19 also in Phuket.
