Rebisco Philippines outlasted Sri Lanka’s CEB team, 25-14, 22-25, 25-18, 21-25, 15-11, to close out its campaign on a bright note in the 2021 Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand Wednesday night.
It was the Filipino spikers’ lone victory in the tournament to settle for ninth place in the 10-team affair.
Rebisco slowly built its momentum at the start of the pivotal fifth set with a 5-3 lead and clung to that upperhand throughout despite the persistent attempts of CEB.
A miscue play briefly gave life to CEB as it cut its deficit, 13-11, but a service error proved to be crucial to give Rebisco the match point advantage.
Jao Umandal sealed the win for the Filipinos with an off-the-block spike.
Overall, the Filipinos did the best they can with only a month of preparation against their more experienced rivals.
They finished the group stage winless in four matches in Pool B and almost won that last preliminary match against Thailand’s Diamond Food in a five-set thriller.
Their other losses came at the expense of Iran’s Foolad Sirjan, Qatar’s Al-Arabi and Uzbekistan’s AGMK.
Foolad Sirjan and Al-Arabi eventually advanced to the semifinals after topping their group with 4-0 and 3-1 win-loss cards. They face hometown squad Nakhon Ratchasima QminC and Kazakhstan’s Burevestnik Almaty, respectively.
The tournament stakes a lone berth to the 2021 FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championships at a still undetermined date and venue.