Nationals settle for silver
The Philippines crashed back to earth following a 21-25, 25-27, 17-25 loss to Indonesia in the finals of the men’s volleyball competition of the 30th Southeast Asian Games last night at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
Marck Espejo and Bryan Bagunas were again at their best, but the Indonesians were simply too strong, too talented to be denied with their first gold medal since the 2009 edition of the Games in Vientiane, Laos.
Espejo delivered 15 points while Bagunas had 11 markers for the Filipinos, who made it to the finals for the first time since being beaten by Burma in the gold-medal game in 1976.
Rex Intal added nine points while Ran Abdilla chipped in five markers for the home squad.
Actually, the Philippines marched into the game with nothing to lose.
After bringing down powerhouse Thailand in the semifinals via a thrilling five-set conquest, the Filipinos already overachieved and the gold medal, if ever they beat Thailand, would just be mere icing on the cake.
That’s why the Indonesians came out with fire in their eyes, knowing that that the home team, which sat out the biennial meet from 2005 to 2015, would be an easy prey.
After opening the third set with a 5-2 lead, Rivan Nurmulki powered the Indonesians to an 8-4 lead to erect an early momentum.
Intal and Espejo tried to pump life into the Nationals’ campaign as they scored back to back hits to inch closer, 1012, but Nurmulki reasserted his dominance as he punished the home team with powerful kills to give the Indonesians a 16-11 lead en route to an easy set victory.