Alas Pilipinas and the whole Philippine volleyball community hold their breath as superstar Bryan Bagunas suffered a late-injury scare against Indonesia in the SEA V.Leagu.
Things just went from bad to potentially the worst for Alas Pilipinas.
Alas Pilipinas Men not only suffered their first loss in the 2024 SEA V.League, but also lost team captain and superstar spiker Bryan Bagunas to an apparent left knee injury.
[Related: Alas Pilipinas drop tough game to SEA V.League champion Indonesia]
Following a jump serve in the fourth set, Bagunas landed awkwardly and appeared to buckle his left knee. He was later stretchered off the playing court.
The injury put a darker cloud to what was already a tough game for Alas, who lost in four sets to Indonesia despite taking the opener.
Bagunas led the Philippines in scoring with 17 points, seven each in the first and fourth sets.
"Alam ko naman makaka-recover si Kuya Bryan. Knowing Kuya Bryan, ma-displina siya and kaya niya 'yan,” Joshua Retamar said, as he looked to alleviate the concerns for his teammate.
“Sa lahat ng fans, 'wag kayong mag-alala kay Kuya Bryan, gagaling agad 'yan.”
Still, the injury setback to Bagunas is a tough subject to navigate, especially since Alas will have to finish the first leg of this SEA V.League against Thailand on Sunday, August 18.
The second leg will then immediately come next week.
With that in mind, Italian head coach Angiolino Frigoni admitted that the status of Bagunas is the team’s “biggest problem,” aside from the in-game problems that mounted from the loss to Indonesia.
“I know what we have to improve but now we have another problem, the biggest problem, the problem of [Bryan] Bagunas,” Frigoni said.