MANILA, Philippines–Alas Pilipinas Men battled hard in a nip-and-tuck duel before losing steam to bow to Osaka Bluteon, 27-29, 23-25, 12-25, Saturday in the Alas Pilipinas Invitationals at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

Japanese Olympian and Filipino fan favorite Yuji Nishida had a match-leading 15 points for Osaka, 14 from attacks including one that left the crowd stunned for a while as the fireball appeared to hit Alas Pilipinas hitter Jade Disquitado in the groin.

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Disquitado shook it off and went on to score a team-high 11, while Buds Buddin came up with 10 points for Alas Pilipinas, which led 19-15 in the second set before fading.

READ: Alas Pilipinas Women fall to Japan side in first of two meetings

The Japan V.League club also utilized both foreign reinforcements to pull off the big win over Alas Pilipinas.

Six-foot-6 American Thomas John Jaeschke scored 10 points, all from attacks, and 6-foot-2 Cuban Miguel Angel Lopez Castro delivered six points from three attacks and three aces, including back-to-back service winners that gave Osaka a commanding 18-8 lead in the third.

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Alas Pilipinas coach Angiolino Frigoni rued the dip in performance in the endgame, but said he is quite pleased overall.

READ: Japan teams test Alas Pilipinas’ mettle

“I am pretty happy for what we did today. To play against this level, the level of attention must be always very high. And we are not able to stay long,” Frigoni said.

Nishida also lauded Alas Pilipinas for the fine play, although he noted they can be inconsistent.

“Sometimes they’re very good. I hope in the next match we’ll play a higher level match
The two teams meet again on Sunday at 6 p.m.