Philippine men’s volleyball team in the SEA Games 2023. –CAMBODIA 2023
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines men’s national volleyball team suffered a heartbreaking 23-25, 21-25, 18-25 loss to Singapore and ended up winless in Group A of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games on Saturday at Indoor Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The rebuilding national squad failed to show composure in the crucial moments of the match as it didn’t win a single game–not even a single set — in the preliminary round for the first time since the country returned to the regional volleyball competition in the 2015 SEA Games.
Jordan Ryan Wong showed the way for the Singaporeans and proved to be a thorn in the side of the Filipinos as they snapped a two-game skid before heading to the classification stage against Myanmar on Sunday.
Wong put on the finishing touches in the first and third sets to send the Filipinos to their worst preliminary round outing in the biennial meet.
The Philippines still has a chance to get a win in the classification for 5th to 8th places, facing Malaysia on Sunday for a chance to advance to the battle for fifth.
The national team banked on outside spikers Jau Umandal and Jade Disquitado. Young guns Leo Ordiales and Lloy Josafat also contributed but it wasn’t enough to save their squad from finishing 0-3 in Group A.
The Filipino Spikers blew a 20-19 advantage in the opening set as Wong took matters into his own hands to give the Singaporeans a 24-21 lead before Umandal and Jayvee Sumagaysay saved two set points but Wong ended the opening frame with a cross-court kill.
Filipino-American opposite spiker Steve Rotter played off the bench in the game and gave the Philippines a 21-20 lead in the second set after nailing back-to-back cross-court spikes. However, Wong tied the frame before the national team committed three straight errors, two consecutive wide attacks from Rotter, that easily gave Singapore a two-set advantage.
The Singaporeans pulled away with a 15-9 spread in the third before the Filipinos score three consecutive points off Umandal’s down-the-line attack, Ordiales’ block, and Josafat’s ace to cut it down to a 15-12 deficit. But Wong stopped the bleeding and continued to dominate to end the game.
The Philippine team, which went from winning a silver medal in 2019 to being reduced to a program in disarray less than four years later, lost its chance to reach the podium after back-to-back losses to defending champion Indonesia and host Cambodia.
Indonesia and Cambodia, who were fighting for the top seed of Group A as of press time, will be playing in the semifinals with Thailand and Vietnam.
