BACOLOD Tay Tung High School, De La Salle-Lipa and Holy Rosary College of the host city nailed their second straight victories to force a three-way tie for the lead in Pool B and match Pool A top teams Nazareth School of National University and Hope Christian High School’s strong start in the 18-and-under Rebisco Volleyball League at the Sta. Rosa Multi-Purpose Sports Complex in Laguna last Tuesday.
Led by Shane Carmona and Beatrice Decena, the BTT spikers held off the University of San Jose-Recoletos side, 25-17, 25-23; DLL thwarted Far Eastern University-Diliman, 25-18, 25-20; while HRC subdued Cagayan de Oro’s Angelicum Learning Center, 25-8, 25-19, to go 2-0 in their side of the two-group tournament sponsored by Rebisco and organized by Metropolitan Sports and Events Group, Inc. headed by Freddie Infante.
BTT and HRC were disputing the solo lead at presstime with DLL also gunning for its third straight win against USJ-R, which remained winless along with ALC and FEU.
NSN and HCS also notched their second straight victories in Pool A with the former battling back from a second set foldup to hack out a tough 25-22, 16-25, 25-22 decision over Koronadal National Comprehensive HS, and the latter imposing its will against Leyte National HS, 25-15, 25-13.
The NU girls, headed by Faith Nisperos and Barbie Jamili, and HCS were also shooting for their third win in row at presstime against University of Mindanao-Tagum and Leyte NS, respectively, with UMT and LNS, toting identical 1-1 cards, also going all out to bolster their respective Final Four bids in the week-long tournament backed by Asics and Mikasa.
The top two teams from each side after the single round elims will advance to the crossover semifinals with the winners disputing the crown on Sunday, according to tournament director Johanz Buenvenida.
Meanwhile, NSN and HCS prime up for their keenly awaited clash tomorrow (Friday) as they take on Koronadal HS and Holy Family Academy of Pampanga, respectively, today (Thursday) in the penultimate playdate of the elims of what has long been considered as the spawning ground of volley talents in the country.
Solar TV will telecast the games on a delayed basis.
Rebisco has taken the cudgels for girls volleyball after sponsoring the national team’s participation in the Asian Seniors Women’s Championship in Laguna, the Asian Women’s Volleyball Club Championship in Kazakhstan and the recent smash-hit Battle of the Rivals, which pitted Ateneo against La Salle.