Bethel Academy stood out in a battle of Cavite teams following a hard-earned 25-21, 21-25, 25-19 victory over Santo Niño de Praga (SNP) in the Philippine National Volleyball Federation U-18 Championships on Friday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
“The girls have the skills, the technics and the fundamentals, what they need to polish is their attitude toward a match—to never doubt themselves,” said Ludlo Dulce, coach of Bethel Academy that is playing out of the City of General Trias in the tournament organized by the PNVF headed by Ramon “Tats” Suzara.
The victory was the second straight for Bethel Academy, while the loss sent the Trece Martires-based SNP to its first defeat in four matches.
Santa Rosa City beat Canossa Academy of Lipa City (1-1), 25-18, 25-15, to improve to 2-1 won-lost in Pool C in the other girls match of the tournament supported by the Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Sports Commission, PLDT, Rebisco and Akari.
De La Salle-Lipa defeated New Gen Volleyball Club (103) of Santa Cruz (Laguna), 25-11, 25-7, to stay unbeaten in two matches in Pool A and Nagcarlan (Laguna) rallied past Parañaque Thunderbolts Club (1-2), 21-25, 25-14, 25-20, to improve to 2-2 in Pool B also of girls’ action.
“But I’m really happy that the girls have learned to trust each other—from setter, libero to our spikers—to just play their game,” said Dulce, who played varsity volleyball for the Lyceum of the Philippines University from 2012 to 2017.
Bethel Academy’s 17-year-old middle blocker Mary Shane Retarta, open spiker Atasha Doroja, setter Marga Adia, libero Alyana Viniegra and spiker April Tre-inta combined forces in the third set to quash their opponents’ bid to turn the game around.
It will be a busy weekend for Bethel Academy which takes on Team Hiyara of Angono (Rizal) at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Volida Volleyball Club (Manila) at 3 p.m. on Sunday.