Nestea beach volley regional qualifying : Cebu's best vs. top Vis-Min teams

CEBU, Philippines - Everything is already in place for the first combined Visayas-Mindanao qualifying of the 16th Nestea Beach Volley, which gets underway tomorrow in the southern Cebu town of Moalboal.

“This will be the first time that we’re merging the Visayas and Mindanao [regional eliminations]. With this, expect a bigger, better and more interesting matches,” said Jel Leyte, Marketing Promotions and Events Executive of Nestle Philippines in a news conference yesterday at the Cebu City Sports Center.

A total of 23 schools are joining in the men’s division and 20 in the distaff side.

Each school is allowed to field in two teams in both divisions, but some schools are only sending only one entries.

The contending squads in the Visayas region are led by defending national champion University of the Visayas (UV) and regional titlist University of Saint La Salle-Bacolod.           

The rest are Southwestern University, University of Cebu, University of Southern Philippines Foundation, University of San Carlos, Bohol Institute of Technology, University of Bohol, University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos, Foundation University, John B.Lacson Foundation Maritime University and the University of San Jose-Recoletos.

The participating teams from Mindanao are the University of Mindanao-Tagum, Jose Maria College, Mindanao State University, Capitol University and newcomer Medical Central College.

The tournament follows a single round elimination. The top four finishers from the Visayas and Mindanao during last year’s regional elimination are being seeded.

“We pre-determined kung sino yung mga malakas na team at hiwalay yung Visayas and Mindanao sa first round para naman maging maganda yung laro at hindi magkakabanggaan agad ang teams from the same school,” said technical director Oti Camangian.

Since the regional eliminations had been merged, more teams will get a chance to play in the national finals set on April 18-20 in Boracay. From three, there will be now six teams in both men and women's division that will proceed into the grand championships in the paradise island.

As sidelights for the exciting beach volley action, regional organizer Ricky Ballesteros said there will be a motor-boat race and a photo contest for the covering photojournalists. (FREEMAN)