The battle for the right to represent the Visayas in the national finals begins today as the Visayas eliminations of the 15th Nestea Beach Volley gets going at the HK Beach Resort in Moalboal, southwestern Cebu.
A total of 24 teams in the men’s and women’s divisions will be competing for six slots—three each in each class—to the national finals slated April 19 to 21 at the Crystal Sands beach resort in Boracay Island.
There, the stakes get even higher as P100,000 each will be awarded to the champion squads.
Southwestern University (SWU) will be raring to rekindle their championship fire as they come in with the duo of former Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. beach volley champions Lori Layno and Danika Gendraule.
Layno was tabbed to replace the injured Princess Pido a week earlier.
The last time that SWU was able to nab the national title was with a squad powered by Florian Gutierrez and Janelle Tabio.
There will be tough opposition in the face of other Cebu squads such as the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) and University of San Carlos (USC).
The out-of-towners will also be putting up a strong front with the University of St. La Salle (USLS), Foundation University and the University of Negros Occidental also participating.
The men’s side will also be a toss-up with the Cebu teams such as USPF, USC, USJ-R, University of Cebu (UC) and University of the Visayas (UV) mixing it up against other prestigious schools from the region.
Aside from top-flight beach volleyball, there will also be frisbee and beach soccer events to spice up the festivities.
Cebu leg is supported by the local government of the Municipality of Moalboal, the Philippine Sports Commission and the Cebu City Sports Commission. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio