Giligan’s, SM Sands by the Bay rule SLiga

MANILA, Philippines - Giligan’s pair of Danika Gendrauli and Norie Jane Diaz overcame the odds to beat Foton Tornadoes Fiola Ceballos and Patty Orendain, 19-21, 21-14, 15-11, and emerge the inaugural women’s champions of the PLDT Home Ultera Philippine Superliga Beach Volleyball Challenge Cup at The Sands by the Bay, SM Mall of Asia yesterday.

Gendrauli, showing top form and heart despite suffering from fever the last three days, and Diaz, her equally able partner, made a key adjustment after dropping the first set and summoned all their strength to prevail over their rivals in the exciting three-setter.

“I’ve had fever since Thursday but I set it aside and trained as hard for this game,” said Cebu pride Gendrauli.

“We also wanted to win this for our manager (Filbert Alquiros), whose father (Guillermo) died (recently),” she added.

Diaz, who previously won NCAA beach volley crowns back in her days with Perpetual Help, couldn’t be happier with having Gendrauli for a partner.

“I’m very thankful she is my partner, she really knows how to handle a team and she’s good at giving  motivation,” said Diaz.

SM By The Bay A’s Jade Becaldo and Hachaliah Gilbuena shared the limelight as they topped the men’s hostilities.

Becaldo and Gilbuena outclassed Champion Infinity B’s Tippy Tipgos and Marjun Alingasa, 21-17, 23-21, in their title showdown.

The Giligan’s duo found itself with its back to the wall as Ceballos and Orendain seized a 20-17 lead en route to taking the opening set. But Diaz and Gendrauli, shifting their target to Orendain and not giving up, charged back and jumped the gun on Foton, 18-12, to eventually force the decider.

The two teams fought on even terms in the third before Giligan’s grabbed a 13-10 cushion. Giligan’s reached championship point on a service error by Ceballos but allowed Foton to stay alive with Gendrauli flubbing her own service. Gendrauli more than made up for the booboo in the next play with a well-placed short shot that secured the title.

“We changed target after losing the first set. We saw that Fiola (Ceballos) was hitting well so we decided to target Patty (instead),” said Diaz.

Gendrauli gained some sort of revenge on Ceballos, a long-time rival who got the better of their previous championship duels on sand during their college days. “For me, that’s already a thing of the past,” she said, smiling.

Cignal HD Spikers B’s April Hingpit and Wensh Tiu earlier took the bronze medal after turning back Foton Hurricane’s Pau Soriano and Bea Tan, 21-18, 21-18.

Their counterpart in the men’s division, Edmar Bono and Santy Montero, copped third via walkover against Centerstage.

The event was organized by Sports Core with Accel as official outfitter, Sands By the Bay as venue partner, Senoh as technical sponsor and Maynilad as official water provider.