The University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Spiking Jaguars completed the year of the comebacks as they returned to the throne after beating the University of Southern Philippines-Foundation (USP-F) Panthers in a thrilling four-setter in Game Two of the finals of the Cesafi men’s volleyball tournament yesterday at the USJ-R gym in Basak.
After being denied the crown in the last two years, the wards of legendary head coach Grace Antigua finally rose to the challenge and put a stamp to this incredible season with a 25-23, 32-30, 24-26, 25-23 win in Game Two to complete the sweep of their rivals.
As what has been the trend this season, USJ-R ascended back to the top much like the Southwestern University (SWU) Lady Cobras did in the women’s division after losing it the previous year.
Showing the championship spirit that USJ-R embodied in their vaunted “three-peat” from 2008 to 2010, the Jaguars showed the Panthers who was indeed king, especially after losing to the latter in the final game of the elimination round.
Since that loss, USJ-R swept USP-F the rest of the way—once in the semis and twice in this finals.
However, USP-F was not an easy nut to crack. The Panthers continued fighting even when star player Edmar Bonono hobbled from a sprained ankle he suffered in the third set.
But USJ-R just had too much power and guile as crafty setter Mark Kevin Petancio and libero James Asingua kept on setting up their power hitters to steadily keep USP-F at bay.
In the third place game, SWU won over the University of the Visayas, 25-20, 25-23, 25-14.