By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Alas Pilipinas overhauled a two-set deficit to beat gritty Vietnam, 23-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-22, 16-14, and salvage a bronze medal in the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games men’s indoor volleyball competition at the Indoor Stadium Huamark in Thailand.

Negrense Leo Ordiales, Marck Espejo and Bryan Bagunas delivered in the nerve-wracking fifth set to stave off the hard-fighting Vietnamese.

But it was Lloyd Josafat who took the honor of ending the Philippines’ six-year title drought in the biennial meet with the game-winning ace.

Ordiales finished with 20 points, while Espejo exploded for 30 points off 25 kills, three kill blocks and two aces for the Philippines, who made a quick turnaround after a stinging straight-sets semifinal loss to Thailand.

Bagunas scored six of his 19 points in the deciding frame, while Josafat and Peng Taguibolos posted 11 and seven markers, respectively, for Alas, which returned to the podium after back-to-back fifth-place finishes following a historic silver medal in the 2019 Manila edition.

With momentum on its side after taking the third and fourth sets to drag the match into a fifth and deciding frame, Alas raced to a 9-5 lead.

Vietnam closed in, 11-12, before Espejo scored an off-speed attack followed by a Bagunas hit as Alas reached match point, 14-11.

The Vietnamese refused to go down without a fight and rallied to force a deuce, 14-14.

Bagunas stopped the bleeding with a powerful kill to give Alas a second match point advantage.

Josafat then smacked a flat ball serve by Vietnam to seal the win.

Pham Quoc Du saw his 27 points go to naught for Vietnam. Truong The Khai had 15 markers while Thuan and Tran Duy Tuen finished with 14 and 13 points, respectively./ASC, WDJ