Alas Men scores historic FIVB World Championship win over Egypt

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Alas Men’s national volleyball team, you are world-class.

Gone are the days of proving yourselves. You belong.

For the first time on the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Men’s World Championship stage, the Philippine national team bagged its maiden win, shocking world No. 22 Egypt, 29-27, 23-25, 25-21, 25-21, and made history on Sept. 16, 2025, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

With their first-ever FIVB win, the Filipino spikers made a significant leap in the world rankings, improving from their previous 89th place to their current 77th.

All the sweat, tears, and years of hardships finally paid off after the thrilling match ended.

Seconds after the match-sealing block from Marck Espejo, the thousands of Filipinos who flocked to support the Alas squad exploded and caused pandemonium.

There were some who continuously laughed, others bumped chests, but the brave Alas Men took time to reflect on their arduous road to history with an emotional outburst.

The Filipinos entered the matchup as the huge underdogs, with a 67-rank placing disparity against the visiting Egyptian national team.

However, Alas didn’t play just to survive and present a challenge—they donned the country’s jersey colors to win and break the slump.

Alas kicked off the highly anticipated duel with a momentum-boosting first-set win, but Egypt immediately struck back to level the matchup at 1-all.

Just when Egypt thought they could replicate what Tunisia did against Alas, the amped-up home team silenced their critics when they came out piping hot offensively to set the tone in the third set.

The momentum continued until the fourth, where Egypt just had no answers to Alas’ crisper attacks and multiple defensive efforts in anchoring the middle area.

Needing just a point to etch their names in the history book, Bryan Bagunas dished out a powerful jump serve that nearly became an ace.

Egypt recovered well to dig the quick serve, but Espejo made sure no extensions would be made as the superstar hitter blocked the incoming combination play for the game-winner.

Spearheading Alas’ historic win was team captain Bagunas, who unleashed a game-high 25-point performance, backstopped by Leo Ordiales’ 21 markers.

The veteran 1-2 punch of Espejo and Kim Malabunga also delivered, chipping in 13 and seven points, respectively.

Owa Retamar, Alas’ crafty playmaker, wowed the crowd with 40 excellent sets in just four frames, including a one-handed setup that was put to sleep by Ordiales.

“I laid on the ground because I was very happy,” said Alas mentor Angiolino Frigoni after the dramatic win.

“This is not just for the Philippines—this team was with me for 15 or 16 months and I saw how they improved.”