USJ-R, USPF tossers gain semi seats in men’s division

Boracay— The University of San Jose Recoletos (USJ-R) tandem of Jade Illut and Jason Uy took a semifinals ticket after upsetting defending national champions University of the Visayas (UV), 24-26, 21-18, 15-11, yesterday in the men’s competition of the 16th Nestea Beach Volley 2013 National Championship at the White Sand Beach here.

The victory was sweet for USJ-R since it is this same UV pair of Jade Becaldo and Mike Abria who denied the Jaguars of the title last year.

“I told them to give the match a good fight because they were up against the national champions,” said multi-titled USJ-R head coach Grace Antigua.

She attributed the team’s win to their determination and Illut’s good performance in that match.

Asked what the team changed in their game from when both teams met in last year’s finals, Antigua said they can better read UV’s game now, especially Abria’s. UV scored a lot of points by using roll shots to evade Abria’s blocks.

According to Antigua, Uy was also very good in motivating and helping Illut in their matches.

UV can still get a shot at retaining its title if it wins against the University of Mindanao Tagum (UMT).

If it survives UMT, UV will face University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF), the second Cebuano team that advanced to the semifinals. USPF advanced after a 21-15, 19-21, 15-11 outspiking of Holy Cross of Davao College (HCDC). USPF is comprised of Edmar Bonono and Edward Ybanez.

HCDC, on the other hand, will be vying for the remaining semifinals ticket against Arellano University (AU). If it wins, it will earn the right to face USJ-R.

With this development in the men’s side, another all-Cebuano finale could happen, especially if UV manages to beat UMT.

UV actually started hot against USJ-R, scoring five straight points on Becaldo’s serve before the Jaguars scored their first point in the first set.

UV continued to hold off USJ-R, 14-8, until the latter went on a four-point run and closed the gap at 14-11 on a combination of roll shots and knuckle shots.

With UV just two points away from closing out the first set, USJ-R made another blitz and even tied the game at 20-all.

Both teams continued to exchange leads and tied the game at 24-all until Abria executed a kill shot to close the first set in UV’s favor.

In the second set, USJ-R stayed with UV point-by-point until it started pulling away, 19-16, en route to the set win.

In the third set, UV seemed headed for a win by going up 6-3. But USJ-R rallied to tie the game at 7-all when Abria’s return hit the net. They then took the lead when Abria again made another mistake when his return went wide.

From there, USJ-R started pulling away then closed out the match on another outside return by Abria.

In the women’s division, Southwestern University (SWU) would have been the last Cebuano women’s team standing after winning its second match against University of San Carlos (USC), 21-8, 21-11. However, Danika Yolanda Gendrauli and Raphril Aguilar of SWU squandered their chances by losing to University of Sto. Tomas (UST), 18-21, 16-21 later in the day.

USPF, on the other hand, also lost its second game against Jose Maria College (JMC), 13-21, 17-21.

Defending champion Central Philippines University (CPU) and UMT advanced to the semifinals. CPU grabbed a semifinals ticket via a 21-16, 21-19 demolition of Adamson University (ADU) while UMT defeated De La Salle University (DLSU), 21-13, 21-17.