BANGKOK — Indonesia’s experience and firepower proved too much for Alas Pilipinas, handing the Filipinos a straight-sets defeat, 17-25, 25-27, 24-26, at the Indoor Stadium Huamark on Tuesday, December 16, in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games men’s indoor volleyball.

Although the match bore no impact on the semifinals standings, Indonesia, led by star spiker Rivan Nurmulki, reminded Alas why they are the unbeaten defending champions and three-time titlists in the biennial meet.

The Filipinos, coming off a straight-sets win against Myanmar, committed a series of service errors, including five in the first set and six in the second, exposing areas they need to address heading into the knockout stage.

Indonesia shows dominance, Alas learns lessons

“We were focusing on this game, it’s not that we were not focusing. We just had some things that were not going well today, and I think it’s very evident that the serve was not going well. We had the same problem against Myanmar, and I hope we get better with our service,” said Alas coach Angiolino Frigoni.

The Philippines attempted a comeback in the third set with Marck Espejo saving a match point to tie it at 24, but Nurmulki quickly responded with a kill. Daffa Naufal Mauluddani then finished with a kill block to seal Indonesia’s two-game sweep of Group B.

Looking ahead to the semifinals

The Indonesians will face the No. 2 seed from Group A in Thursday’s semifinals. Alas Pilipinas is set to meet the top seed from the same group, either Thailand or Vietnam, who were still playing as of press time.

Alas showed resilience in the second set behind Bryan Bagunas, Marck Espejo, and Leo Ordiales, briefly reaching set point at 24-23 following an Indonesian service error. However, service miscues and quick counterattacks by Indonesia allowed the champions to close out the match, with Nurmulki blocking Bagunas to cement the 2-0 lead.