PH men’s volleyball snaps out of funk, fights for 5th

MANILA, Philippines – After a winless run in pool play, the hard-luck Philippine men’s volleyball team finally scored a breakthrough win.

The Filipinos slipped past Malaysia in a grueling five-setter, 25-19, 20-25, 25-21, 24-26, 17-15, in the classification phase of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games on Sunday, May 7, at the Indoor Olympics Stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 

With the victory, the national spikers will end their campaign against Singapore in a bid to salvage their campaign at fifth place on Monday.

Outside hitter Jade Disquitado delivered crucial points in the deciding set, as he dropped 6 points, including the go-ahead off-the-block kill that gave the Filipinos the deuce.

Malaysia then committed an attack error that sailed out of bounds, sending them to the seventh-place classification round match against Myanmar.

In the fourth set, the Philippines clawed back from a 22-24 deficit and managed to tie the game at 24-all, but squandered it following back-to-back hits by the Malaysians.

The Filipinos took a 2-1 set lead after emerging from a 16-11 deficit by clapping back with a 9-3 blitz capped off by a block from Fil-Am Steve Rotter to take the lead, 20-19.

The Philippines’ lead widened to 23-19 after a foot fault by Malaysia, before they scored one last time in the set.

Rotter and Jayvee Sumagaysay soared for back-to-back blocks to give the Philippines the 25-21 victory. – Rappler.com