Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons repeated over Slovenia’s Ziva Javornik and Tajda Lovsin, 21-19, 21-9, in a Round of 32 match on Friday morning to notch the Philippines’ first-ever Challenge-level victory in the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour series at the Nuvali Sands Court by Ayala Land in Santa Rosa, Laguna.
“We’re very grateful to win our first match at the Challenge level, and we hope to sustain our run to advance further in the tournament,” said Rondina, who — with then partner Jovelyn Gonzaga — beat compatriots Genesa Jane “Jen” Eslapor and Floremel Rodriguez, 22-24, 21-12, 15-12, in the final of the 2022 Beach Pro Tour Futures in Subic for a 1–2 Philippine finish.
The FIVB Beach Pro Tour has five levels — Futures, Challenge, Elite16, Finals, and finally, the World Championships.
“This is big for us,” added Rondina, who, alongside Pons — currently ranked __ in the world — defeated the No. 78 Slovenian pair, 16-21, 21-15, 15-9, in the Futures event in Budapest just last month.
Standing in the way of Rondina and Pons is a Round of 24 match against Switzerland’s Annique Niederhauser and Leona Bentele, who are coming off an 18-21, 21-14, 16-18 loss to Australia’s Taliqua Clancy and Jana Milutinovic also on Friday.
A victory by Rondina and Pons over the Swiss, scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday, would mean a breakthrough Round of 16 slot for Alas Pilipinas in the event hosted by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) headed by Ramon “Tats” Suzara.
“We just have to believe that we can compete, and winning here for the first time in our career has boosted our confidence,” Pons said.
“It’s a great privilege that our athletes are able to play at this level of volleyball and win a match,” said Alas Pilipinas Brazilian coach Joao “Kioday” Luciano Simao Barbosa. “It proves that we’re on the right path, and we hope to be exposed to more of these kinds of events.”
Kly Orillaneda and Gen Eslapor, however, lost to the USA’s Teegan Van Gunst and Piper Ferch, 19-21, 11-21, while Sonny Villafando and Dij Rodriguez squandered a 13-8 lead in the second set to yield to Japan’s Sakura Ito and Mayu Sawame, 18-21, 25-27, to exit the tournament, which ends Sunday.
