Team Rebisco squandered a one-set lead to lose in heartbreaking fashion to Thai club Diamond Food in five sets, Monday afternoon at the Terminal 21 competition hall in Nakhon Ratchasima.
In a match that featured three extended sets, it was Diamond Food that showed greater poise down the stretch to take a 36-34, 24-26, 26-28, 25-19, 15-12 victory in Pool B action at the Asian Men's Club Volleyball Championship.
The loss dropped Team Rebisco to 0-4, putting them in a classification match for 9th and 10th places on Wednesday.
The thrilling encounter saw the Filipinos go toe-to-toe with their Southeast Asian rivals, and the first frame set the tone for a marathon match. It took 46 minutes to complete the first set, with Team Rebisco squandering an early lead and three set points in a see-saw finish.
In the end, clutch hits by middle blocker Kissada Nilsawai and Kantapat Koonmee gave Diamond Food a hard-earned 1-0 lead.
But the Filipinos roared back in the second and third sets, each time recovering from deficits to snatch the win in the endgame. In Set 2, Team Rebisco got a clutch hit from Ysay Marasigan, who came off the bench for the hit that put them at set point, 25-24.
Koonmee appeared to have forced a deuce off a pipe attack, but a challenge by the Team Rebisco coaching staff showed that he committed a foot fault in his approach, giving the Filipinos the winning point.
Diamond Food appeared headed for a comfortable win in Set 3 when they took a 22-16 lead, but former University of Santo Tomas (UST) star Mark Alfafara sparked the Filipinos' comeback. His stuff of Chaiwat Thungkham highlighted an 8-0 blast, capped by an ace by current UST star Joshua Umandal to put Team Rebisco at set point, 24-22.
A violation by Alfafara and a crosscourt hit by Koonmee set up the tight finish, where JP Bugaoan fired the quick hit for a set point, and Koonmee's attempt went long.
Diamond Food made sure that there would be no comeback in the fourth set for the Filipinos, however, as Koonmee conspired with Pusit Phonarin to push the match to a decider.
Team Rebisco raced out to a 9-6 lead in the fifth, thanks to back to back hits by Umandal, but the Filipinos' errors allowed Diamond Food to get back in the match. A Marasigan swipe tied the match for the last time at 11, before Koonmee fired a crosscourt attack and Alfafara committed a hitting error for a 13-11 Diamond Food advantage.
A net violation on Koonmee gave the Filipinos some hope, but he made up for it with two straight kills that finished off Team Rebisco.
The Filipinos will have one day of rest before playing the fifth-placed team in Pool A.
Meanwhile, Diamond Food improved to 2-1 in pool play ahead of their match against Foolad Sirjan on Tuesday.
