Alas Pilipinas Boys had one foot in the quarterfinals. Then it all fell apart.

The Philippines squandered a commanding 2-0 set lead and suffered a stunning reverse sweep loss to India, 25-16, 25-20, 20-25, 23-25, 4-15, on Tuesday afternoon at the Wuyuan River Gymnasium in Haikou, China. The defeat ended Alas Pilipinas’ bid for a historic first-ever quarterfinals berth at the AVC Boys’ U18 World Championships.

From Commanding Lead to Total Collapse

Alas Pilipinas came out firing, riding hot hitting from Terrence Marticion, Allan-Rey Dais, Terrence Gamotea and John Daniel Dela Cruz to seize a 2-0 set advantage and put themselves on the verge of the quarterfinals.

But India adjusted. The South Asian squad found its rhythm in the third and fourth sets, keying in on the plays run by Alas team captain Howard Guerra to force a decisive fifth set.

That’s when the wheels came off.

India’s Sourabh Kashma, Adarsh Singh and Deepak Deepak caught fire in the decider, storming out to an 8-2 lead. Gamotea briefly stopped the bleeding with a block on Kashma, but India answered with a 4-0 run to push the gap to 12-3.

Guerra found a cross-court kill to get Alas on the board, but a costly net error handed India even more momentum, 13-4. Kashma sealed the win — and India’s spot in the quarterfinals — with back-to-back service aces, closing out the set 15-4.

The result dropped Alas to third in Pool B with a 1-2 record, its only win coming against winless Bahrain. Iran (3-0) and India (2-1) advanced to the quarterfinals, as only the top two teams from each of the four pools move on.

Head coach Oliver Balse didn’t hide his disappointment, but saw the bigger picture.

“We were so close; we were already there, but we fell short,” Balse said. “We did not hold on until the end. There are situations where we could take the set and win, but maybe this match is not for us.”

“I am still happy with how they performed, because I can really see the skills, but the maturity is something that we really need to work on,” he added.

Young Squad Vows to Bounce Back in Classification Round

Despite the heartbreaking finish, Alas Pilipinas showed flashes of the talent that fueled its early lead.

Marticion paced the Philippines with 16 points on 14 attacks and two aces. Galapin and Dais each added 14 points, while Gamotea and Dela Cruz contributed nine points apiece.

On the other side, India’s Kashma was nearly unstoppable, finishing with a match-high 31 points. Deepak added 16 for the winners.

Despite the crushing collapse, Marticion struck an optimistic tone afterward, framing the loss as a stepping stone rather than a setback.

“We are thankful since we gave our best. No one was injured, and we will do our best in the classification round,” Marticion said.

“We still keep our heads up high, and this serves as a hard-learned lesson for us,” he added. “Still, we are inspired to do better in our own leagues in the Philippines.”

Alas Pilipinas now shifts focus to the classification round, where its next opponent will be determined once Day 3 of competition wraps up later Tuesday.