A good-sized crowd that braved the sweltering summer heat got what they came for as the crossover quarterfinals of the annual summer event featured a couple of exciting, action-packed matches at the Power Plant sand court, including those from the men’s division.
So hard to match, however, was the intensity displayed by the squads from Baguio and San Sebastian against their equally tough opponents. Joining them in the semis scheduled March 16 at the same venue are Philippine Christian University Manila and Letran.
In what is considered as the biggest upset of the tournament so far, PCU-M, the No. 8 seed in the quarterfinals, pulled off a 23-21 win over elimination round topnotcher Mapua. Letran, for its part, hardly touched the sand in crushing Philippine State College of Aeronautics, 21-5.
In the men’s division, advancing to the semis and staying in the hot race were St. Benilde which defeated Pampanga Agricultural College, 21-18, Central Colleges of the Philippines which downed PATTS, 21-13, San Sebastian which edged FEU, 21-18; and UP which tripped UP Los Baños, 21-15.
The tournament takes a break before the Visayas elims are staged March 13 and 14, and the Mindanao elims on March 15. The men’s and women’s semis featuring 12 teams each will be played March 16 with the top eight from both divisions advancing to the Boracay finals on April 5 and 6.
The winning pairs in the tournament sponsored by Smart, Speedo, Great Eastern Hotel, Le Soleil, Cebe, Astring-O-Sol, Mikasa, Philippine Airlines, WG&A and Power Plant Mall in Rockwell Center will receive P100,000 each with P50,000 worth of sports equipment going to their respective schools.
Maria Kristine Enola and Madonna Rimando of UB, last-minute replacements for the PUP squad, faced their toughest test in the tournament so far but still managed to get past their opponents, third place finishers last year in Boracay.
"Nahirapan talaga kami dahil sa experience ng mga kalaban. Third place pala sila sa national finals last year kaya dinaan na lang naming lahat sa hard work," said Enola who, along with Rimando, are now considered as the biggest surprise of the tournament being presented by Nestea since 1997.
San Sebastian, the reigning NCAA champion, also featured a fine duo in Jennifer Bohawe and newcomer Leilani Altovar. Bohawe was part of the SSC team that won the Nestea crown two years ago before being denied of a chance to compete last year due to sponsorship problems.
"Kinabahan kami against Adamson sa simula pa lang kaya noong malamangan kami, parang na-rattle. Mabuti nakabalik," said Bohawe, the reigning MVP in the NCAA.