Subic Bay Freeport—Abanse Negrense spikers made a lot of heads turn as they dominated the pool play to secure the top spots heading into the knockout quarterfinals of the 2021 Gatorade-Philippine Superliga Beach Volleyball Challenge Cup Saturday at the Subic Bay sand courts here.
Alexa Polidario and Erjane Magdato powered Abanse Negrense to a three-game sweep of Pool A after making short work of Arianne Alarcon and Christina Canares of Kennedy Solar Energy-PetroGazz, 21-4, 21-7, in this special bubble tourney held in cooperation with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and Inter-Agency Task Force Region 3.
Jennifer Cosas and Gelimae Villanueva of Abanse Negrense B also complete a sweep of Pool B after taking down Jonah San Pedro and Javen Sabas of Toby’s Sports, 21-11, 21-9.
Abanse Negrense squads are fighting for semifinal slots at press time with Magdato and Polidario battling Pool B cellar dweller Toby’s Sports while Cosas and Villanueva clashing with Kennedy Solar Energy-PetroGazz in the knockout quarterfinals of this tourney that has Cherrylume, Ube Express and Subic bay Peninsular Hotel as sponsors and Cocolife, Cocogen Insurance, Data Project and Genius Sports as technical partners.
“We’re happy that both Abanse Negrense teams are showing the great talents of players from Negros Occidental as a team and as individuals,” Magdato said.
Her teammate, Polidario, added that the challenge is how to sustain their momentum heading into the finals.
“We hope to sustain this kind of performance until the end of this tournament,” she said.
Meanwhile, Sta. Lucia teams bounced back from their tough losses on Friday afternoon after beating their last pool assignments to seal the No. 2 spots.
After a tough 21-6, 14-21, 11-15 loss to Abanse Negrense B late Friday, DM Demontano and Jackie Estoquia of Sta. Lucia A vented their ire on Ella Viray and Theresa Ramas of United Auctioneers, Inc., 21-13, 21-14 to finish with 2-1 record for the second seed of Pool B.
"We exerted more effort since we fell short in our last game," Estoquia said. "We have to do whatever it takes here in the quarterfinals. We have to be patient and bring out our best efforts since it's a knockout game."
Sta. Lucia B, on the other hand, leaned on Jonah Sabete's scoring prowess and excellent plays of Bang Pineda to take down Jenny Senares and Kyla Gallego of F2 Logistics, 21-14, 21-13.
Pineda and Sabete were also eyeing a semis berth against Pool B's third placer United Auctioneers as well as Demontano and Estoquia, who were taking on F2 Logistics in the knockout quarterfinals as of press time.
