Gallant Rebisco falls to AGMK in four-set thriller, goes 0-2 in Thailand tilt

The Philippines' Rebisco put up a strong stand but still fell to Uzbekistan's AGMK, 24-26, 25-23, 25-18, 25-19, in the 2021 Asian Men's Club Volleyball Championship on Saturday at the Terminal 21 competition hall in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.

Reeling from its opening day loss to Iran's Sirjan Foulad on Friday, the nationals open the game on a high note with Nico Almendras, Mark Alfafara, and Jao umandal delivering clutch plays for a 15-12 lead.

The Uzbekistan bets were able to tie things up at 24-all but an error from their side and a clean hit by Almendras gave the Philippines the opening set, 26-24.

The Filipinos had control of the second set at some points with Umandal unleashing three-straight attacks to come to within, 24-23. Their defense, however, could not find an answer for AGMK's strong hits as they surrendered the set in close fashion, 25-23.

Errors continued to pile up for the Filipinos in the third frame, losing it by wider margin of 25-18 as they sank 2-1 in the thrilling match.

Umandal remained solid for Rebisco in the fourth set with veterans Ysay Marasigan, Francis Saura, and team captain John Vic De Guzman giving a spark off the bench to give their side an early 10-9 upper hand.

Up 23-19, AGMK was able to seal the deal after an attack error by Marasigan and a denial on Umandal hit.

AGMK will now barge into the win column as they also lost their opener to Thailand's Diamond Food on Friday while Rebisco will remain winless in two games.

—JMB, GMA News