St. Benilde, FEU book Boracay trip

Defending champion St. Benilde and 1999 titleholder FEU survived some scare yesterday, losing in the morning before winning in the afternoon to reach the Boracay phase of the 10th Nestea Beach Volley Championship.

St. Benilde’s Janley Patrona and Rael Pio de Castro, and FEU’s Jessie Lopez and Joshua Alcarde went undefeated in the first two days of the Luzon eliminations until they ran smack against two gallant teams yesterday morning.

The St. Benilde pair lost to Michael Mauel and Harold Pavia of St. Francis of Assisi, 25-17, while the FEU tandem started slow and bowed to Mike Alinsunurin and Sherin Meneses of Adamson, 25-21.

But resting a couple of hours, they picked up the pieces, venting their ire on their next opponents. St. Benilde stopped University of the Philippines, 25-21, while FEU edged La Salle, 25-21, at the La Salle Greenhills sandcourt.

The afternoon victories, their third in four games, were enough to send St. Benilde and FEU back to Boracay where the semis and finals of this annual event presented by Nestea will be staged May 4-6.

St. Francis and Adamson also made it to Boracay. In fact, they remained unbeaten as of presstime as they were still playing their closing matches in the elims.

The one who remains unbeaten will be named Luzon champion.

In the women’s side, nailing the four Boracay slots for Luzon were University of Baguio, Letran, St. Benilde and Adamson. Of the four, only Adamson has won the women’s national title, scoring the feat in 2002.

Southwestern University of the Visayas is seeking a fourth straight women’s title.

"We had a poor start against St. Francis which was also a strong team. But what’s important was that we didn’t lose our confidence," said Patrona, who had a different teammate in Arnold Laniog when St. Benilde won the title last year.

Lopez said the same of FEU’s loss to Adamson, a real contender. FEU also trailed against La Salle, 12-16, and seemed headed toward an early exit in the event which drew 72 pairs from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

"Maybe they couldn’t handle the pressure when we started to come back. When we tied the score at 18, I noticed that they were starting to panic," said the 19-year-old Lopez, who hails from Sta. Cruz, Laguna.

The tournament is sponsored by Speedo, MTV, Power Shot, Hey Jude, Mikasa, Cebu Pacific, Seventeen, D-Mall, Villa de Oro, Club Ten, Schering-Plough Coppertone, Crystal Sand Resort, ClicktheCity.com, Boracay Gold Crowne Club, Bantay Kalikasan ABS-CBN Foundation, Nautilus by PJ Aranador and La Salle Greenhills.

University of Baguio assured itself of a Boracay slot with a 25-21 win over Adamson while Letran sealed its first trip to the island paradise following a 25-15 win over St. Benilde.

The St. Benilde lady spikers bounced back in the afternoon and advanced with a 25-20 triumph over Philippine Christian University. Adamson also recovered and advanced with a 25-15 win over Santo Tomas.