MANILA – Team captain Bryan Bagunas tried to rally Alas Pilipinas with clutch hits in the final stretch, but the Philippines fell short against Tunisia, 25-13, 25-17, 25-23, in its opening match at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship on Saturday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Bagunas, spearheading the 82nd-ranked Filipino squad, fired back-to-back points to tie the third set at 23-all, igniting hopes of an upset over the world No. 43 Tunisians. But the African side held its composure in the closing plays to complete a straight-set victory in Pool A.
Tunisia earlier raced to a commanding 12-1 start in the opening frame, a deficit Alas Pilipinas never recovered from, and used a mix of defense and Philippine errors to dominate the second set despite a brief rally capped by a Jade Disquitado kill that cut the gap to 14-19.
“I think that was the key point, there were too much emotion without the experience. We started to play well in the third set,” said head coach Angiolino Frigoni in a televised post-game interview.
“We know that our level of volleyball is not on top of the world, but if we fight, we can compete, and what we did in the last set, for me, was good,” he added.
Frigoni pointed to ball control and setting as areas that require immediate improvement as the Filipinos brace for tough back-to-back matches against Egypt on Sept. 16 and Iran on Sept. 18.
“We have to improve inside and out, that was the key point in the first two sets, our second touch is not good. I know what we will try to practice, I know we need to improve,” the Italian mentor stressed./PN
