Pajo belles place 3rd in Shakey's volleyball

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu's bet Pajo National High School (PNHS) Lady Vipers upended Central Philippines University (CPU) in four sets to cop the third place honors in the Shakey’s Girls Volleyball League dubbed as “Tournament of Champions” yesterday at the University of St. La Salle (USLS) Coliseum in Bacolod City.

The PNHS belles showed great start to take the opening, 25-20, behind the triumvirate of Gretchel Soltones, Marjorie Coloscos and reinforcement Julaiza Mae Larada from the University of San Jose-Recoletos.

However, PNHS flirted with overconfidence, enabling CPU to fire back in the second set, 25-17.

Learning their lessons well, Pajo of coach Fr. Rolando T. Manayon went back to business and thrashed CUP in the third set, 25-15, to earn a two sets to one lead. From thereon, the Pajo mainstays sustained their relentless offensive to finish off CPU in lopsided fashion, 25-9.

“We're confident that we will defeat CPU since we know their playing techniques when we clashed during the elimination round. Also, we were able to apply the necessary defense and attacks that would surely destroy the performance of CPU,” said Manayon.

“Though my players have to tendency to relax after winning a set, just like what happened in the second set, I motivated them to win the rest of the sets to get the third place rank. I’m glad that they were able to recover and improve their performance until the end of the match,” Manayon added.

The rest who figured prominently in Pajo's resounding victory were the likes of Charlita Auza, Cristy Sucalit, Apple Roiles and Danika Molinas.

In the championship, Hope Christian School was back in the limelight after dethroning USLS-Bacolod in a five-set thriller, 25-19, 25-23, 19-25 18-25, 15-4. (FREEMAN)