BY ABBY TORALBA
THE Philippine men’s volleyball team absorbed a 20-25, 17-25, 23-25 loss to Bahrain yesterday and failed the reach the Top 6 of the AVC Challenge Cup for Men at the University of Taipei Hall 1.
Marck Espejo, Vince Mangulabnan and the rest of the squad failed to match up to the reigning Asian Men’s Volleyball Cup bronze medalists and kissed their medal hopes goodbye.
With the setback, the Sergio Veloso-mentored squad was relegated to the classification round.
Espejo, Mangulabnan, along with Steven Rotter, Jao Umandal, Rex Intal, and Kim Malabunga are expected to bounce back in the classification phase for 7th to 12th places.
Before reaching the Final 12, the Philippines swept its preliminary matches in Pool D.
The Philippine crew began its campaign with a runaway 25-21, 25-15, 25-14 win over Macau last Sunday.
The following day, the Philippines overcame a gritty challenge from Mongolia and hacked out a 22-25, 25-21, 26-24, 23-25, 15-12 decision three days ago.
