Alas Men Fall to Chinese Taipei and Finish Asian Games Pool Stage Winless

Alas Pilipinas Men closed out the pool stage without a win after falling to Chinese Taipei in four sets, 21-25, 25-20, 25-17, 29-27, in Pool D of the 20th Asian Games on Tuesday at Park Arena Komaki in Aichi, Japan.

The Philippines took the first set but Chinese Taipei gradually found its rhythm and turned the match around by taking advantage of Alas Men’s errors.

The Filipinos committed a total of 26 errors throughout the four-set game, continuing an issue that also hurt them in their first two pool-stage games.

Alas Men stayed within striking distance in the fourth set, with middle blocker Josh Magalaman providing a spark at the net.

The Philippines mounted a late rally, with Bryan Bagunas helping Alas take a 21-20 lead.

After the teams traded points to reach 23-all, Chang Yu-Chen put Chinese Taipei at match point before Jude Garcia responded to extend the set.

The deadlock continued until 27-all, when Yu-Chen scored twice in succession to give Chinese Taipei the win.

Yu-Chen led all scorers with 24 points, while Chang Yu-Sheng added 19. Wen Yi-Kai and Tsai Pei-Chang finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Bagunas finished as Alas Men’s top scorer with 17 points, followed by Magalaman with 16, including 11 attacks and five blocks.

The loss sent Alas Men into the classification round with a 0-3 record in Pool D.

The Philippines will begin its classification campaign on October 1.