The Philippines’ Cignal HD put together a gritty fight before absorbing an 11-25, 21-25, 21-25 loss to Osaka Bluteon of host Japan in the 2025 AVC Men’s Champions League on Sunday.
The Filipinos sustained a lopsided first set defeat, but made sure to give a scare to the powerhouse club that features several members of world no. 6 Japan national team such as Yuji Nishida, Yamauchi Akihiro, Eiro Motoki, Kai Masato, Yamamoto Tomohiro, and Otsuka Tatsunori.
Ultimately, though, Cignal HD faltered in straight sets as it’s now at 0-1 in Pool B while the mighty Osaka gained the lead at 1-0.
Marck Espejo, who originally suits up for Criss Cross but is lent to the Cignal banner for this tournament, led the way with nine points on eight attacks and one block laced with four receptions and one dig.
Louie Ramirez provided the help with eight markers while opposite hitter Steven Rotter chipped in seven points.
Down 22-16 in the third set, the Filipinos refused to go down easily as Jau Umandal sparked the rally off the bench by unleashing back-to-back aces that allowed Cignal to cut the deficit to three at 22-19.
The former UST standout, though, committed an error on the next one to enable Osaka to take a 23-19 cushion. Lloyd Josafat then unleashed his own attack, but a costly service error from Rotter saw Osaka cruising to the match point, 24-21.
Ramirez, a former two-time MVP in the NCAA out of Perpetual, evaded the block of Keitaro Nishikawa to save one match point for Cignal but he would go wide on his serve as Osaka clinched the sweep victory.
Lefty Nishida paced Osaka with 13 points anchored on 11 attacks, one ace, and one block while Shoma Tomita and Cuban import Miguel Angel Lopez both tallied 12 markers.
With the loss, Cignal is now in a must-win situation on Tuesday when it takes on China’s Shanghai Bright. Only the top two teams in each pool advance to the quarterfinals.
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
AloJapan.com