PH beach volley pair yields to Thais in Asian U21 opener

Jayrack de la Noche and Alexander Iraya stumbled into their opening match in the 4th Asian U21 Beach Volleyball Championships in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand Tuesday.
De la Noche and Iraya mustered all their strength but still fell short to a more aggressive Thailand-2 pair of Netitorn Muneekul and Wachirawit Muadpha, 21-12, 21-14.
The loss put their quarterfinal bid in peril as they needed to win their match against second seed Australians Ruben Gale and Connor O’Neill on Wednesday.
“Last chance na po namin bukas. Sana manalo po kami at ipagdasal nyo po kami,” said Iraya in a video interview posted by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) on its Twitter account.
The tournament is a qualifier for the FIVB U21 Beach Volleyball Championships scheduled Sept. 24 to 29 in the province of Roi Et in central northeastern Thailand.
De la Noche and Iraya, both standouts from the University of Santo Tomas high school, debuted in the international scene last week in the 3rd Asian U19 Beach Volleyball Championships on the same venue.