MANILA, Philippines - Bea Tan and Brazilian Rupia Inck came back from first set down and eked out a dramatic, come-from-behind 17-21, 24-22, 15-12 victory over Charo Soriano and Alexa Micek last night to clinch the Beach Volleyball Republic Christmas Open title at the MOA Sands by the Bay in Pasay City.
Inck, who played for Petron Blaze that finished second to Foton in the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix early this month, hit a down-the-line spike at the back to complete the thrilling win over Soriano and Micek.
“We just want to give the fans who came here to watch a show despite the weather,” said Tan, who teamed up with volley superstar Alyssa Valdez to clinch Ateneo a third place finish in last November’s UAAP beach volley tilt.
Tan and Inck made it here by beating Janine Marciano and Bang Pineda, 21-11, 21-17, in the semis to make it this far while the Soriano-Micek pair hurdled Maica Morada and April Hingpit, 23-21, 21-15, to clinch the other finals berth.
At first, Soriano and Micek appeared to have the title in the bag after imposing their will in the opening set.
But Tan and Inck fought their way back and snatched the second set to force a deciding third set.
Soriano then felt fatigue after suffering cramps and needed a five-minute medical time out in the final set, allowing the Tan-Inck tandem to escape with the gripping victory.