Filipino players James Buytrago and Ran Abadilla were defeated by Australians D’Artagnan Potts and Jack Pearse, 14-21, 18-21, in the first quarterfinal match of the Volleyball World 2025 Beach Pro Tour Challenge at Nuvali Sands Court in Santa Rosa City, Laguna. The Alas Pilipinas duo, who earned bronze at the 2023 Southeast Asian Games, mounted a late push to close the gap at 18-19 in the second set but couldn’t secure the win in their Pool H encounter. Buytrago played through an injured right index finger, which impacted their performance.
Reflecting on the match, Buytrago said, “We adjusted very well in our strategies to disrupt their plays, but we just couldn’t sustain our game to the end. The paint merely went off during the match maybe because of adrenaline.” Despite the loss, the pair remains in contention, set to face Americans Tim Brewster and Ryan Lerna in their next quarterfinal match later that evening. Buytrago added, “We still have a chance if we win against the USA in our later match. I believe we can bounce back later.”
In other Pool H action, Italy’s Enrico Rossi and Marco Viscovich defeated Brewster and Lerna, 21-12, 22-20, advancing in the tournament hosted by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation under Ramon “Tats” Suzara. Elsewhere, Indonesians Akbar Bintang and Sofyan Rachman Efendi beat Germans Philip Huster and Maximilian Just, 23-21, 21-19, in Pool D; Spain’s Alejandro Huerta and Adrian Gavira topped Latvia’s Ardis Beritis and Arturs Rinkevics, 21-19, 21-18, in Pool D; and the USA’s Logan Webber and Hagen Smith overcame Denmark’s Mads Mollgaard and Nicolai Houmann, 21-17, 18-21, 15-12, in Pool B.