Alas Pilipinas snags inaugural men's SEA VLeague triumph

c/o SEA VLeague

History is finally achieved on Friday night, as the Philippines finally secured a victory in the Southeast Asian VLeague at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Alas Pilipinas earned the win after a 25-21 25-22 18-25 25-23 result against Vietnam, a matchup that lasted over 130 minutes, and is a statement triumph for the side under new head coach Angiolino Frigoni.

The Italian mentor shared afterwards, "Everybody has to be ready, we play with the players, not with the name on the shirt. The players have to play, it doesn’t matter if it’s their first time on the national team, for me it doesn’t matter."

Bryan Bagunas led the way for the Philippines with fifteen spikes, a couple of blocks and a couple of aces. Nine of his points came in the first set as he got things going.

He would find help in a fellow National University standout in Michaelo Buddin, as Buddin finished with nine spikes, three blocks and a couple of aces, with half of his fourteen points coming in the second set.

NCAA standout Louie Ramirez contributed eleven spikes.

Pham Van Hiep and Duong Van Tien each scored fifteen points to lead Vietnam, with Nguyen Ngoc Thuan adding fourteen himself.

Vietnam seeks to bounce back against Thailand on Saturday afternoon, with Alas Pilipinas hoping to make it back-to-back wins against Indonesia at 6pm.