The Philippines asserted its mastery over familiar victim Macau, 25-15, 25-16, 25-17, to move on to the next phase of the classification round of the Asian Volleyball Confederation Challenge Cup for Men Thursday at the University of Taipei Hall in Taiwan.
Steve Rotter, Ryan Ka, Rex Intal and youngblood Noel Kampton took the spotlight on offense as usual suspects Marck Espejo, Jau Umandal and Kim Malabunga were barely used against the same team the Filipinos dismantled in pool play.
The rebound victory secured the Nationals a spot in the 7th to 10th place classification round for a second serving of action against Mongolia today.
The FIVB world ranked No. 56 Pinoy spikers repeated over Macau, which they also defeated in straight sets, 25-21, 25-15, 25-14, last 9 July to open their Pool D elimination round campaign.
Macau kept the game close early in the second frame, showing better play compared to the opening set, tying it at 9. But the Nationals sparked a blistering run to pull away for a 2-0 match lead.
It was all Philippines in the third frame to complete a one-hour, 22-minute win.
The Philippines missed the quarterfinal after getting swept by Bahrain in the Final 12.
The Nationals and Mongolians cross paths at 3 p.m. where the winner will take on the survivor between Chinese Taipei and Kazakhstan for the fifth spot finish.
The Filipinos fought Mongolia tooth and nail before eking out a 22-25, 25-21, 26-24, 23-25, 15-12, escape to complete a sweep of Pool D.
Mongolia drew a bye in the first phase of the classification round after losing to South Korea, 16-25, 21-25, 20-25, in the Final 12 last Wednesday.
