Alas Pilipinas libero Josh Ybañez and captain Bryan Bagunas at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship. Volleyball World
MANILA — Alas Pilipinas Men proved they belong on the world stage, and the statistics show it following the conclusion of the pool phase at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship.
The Filipino spikers wrapped up 19th overall and were already the second-best Asian team in the tournament, trailing behind Iran, which advanced to the Round of 16 after a 25-21, 21-25, 25-17, 23-25, 20-22 heartbreaker against the host nation on Thursday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The Philippine men's national volleyball team, the second-lowest-ranked squad before the tournament kicked off, finished ahead of Qatar (22nd) and Japan (23rd), and was just two places behind World No. 2 Brazil (17th) and double Olympic champion France (18th).
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After the end of the pool phase, team leader Bryan Bagunas, who isn't new on the international stage, garnered 70 points on 61 attacks, six blocks, and three aces, ranking third among the best scorers and was the only non-European player in the top five.
He was behind Belgium's Ferre Reggers (73 points) and Bulgaria's Aleksandar Nikolov (70 points), and was ahead of Finland's Joonas Jokela (67 points) and the Netherlands' Michiel Ahyi (61 points).
Bagunas was also third in total attack points (61) and was seventh in blocking (6) during the preliminary round.
"Pilipinas, this one is for you," said Bagunas in a recent post on social media platform Facebook, Saturday.
"I’m so proud of my Team [Alas Pilipinas]. Ibinuhos namin lahat ng meron kami, and even if the result wasn’t what we expected, reaching this far was already beyond what we once imagined. Alam ko sa puso ko na binigay namin ang lahat," the Filipino captain added.
READ: Na-Miss Universe? Marck Espejo still proud of Alas Men despite falling short vs. Iran
Meanwhile, Owa Retamar was fourth in setting, tossing 111 total excellent sets on 149 attempts and had an average of 37 excellent sets per match.
“Para ito sa bawat balibolistang pinagtawanan at pinagdudahan dahil volleyball ang pinili nilang sport. Ito na ang simula ng pantay na respeto at pagkilala sa Men’s Volleyball. Wala na tayong dapat ikahiya,” said the playmaker out of National University in a statement made available to the media.
Marck Espejo, despite being an outside spiker, ended up being fourth-best in receptions with 24 excellent receptions on a 30.77% efficiency, showing his two-way game against the visitors as he added 37 markers, joining the top 20 scorers.
Alas Men's main libero Josh Ybañez also stamped his class on the defense as he tallied 23 excellent receptions, fifth overall.
The two-time UAAP MVP was also the seventh-best digger, registering 21 excellent digs in total.
"Ending my MWCH journey with these statistics is such a huge achievement. This is what happens when you believe in yourself, no matter how many doubters you have," said Ybanez, who actually played as spiker with University of Santo Tomas in the UAAP but was converted to the defensive role in Alas Pilipinas, in an Instagram Story.
All of these were done in just their first-ever World Championship run, invited by virtue of hosting.
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