USJ-R Spiking Jaguars claim CESAFI men’s volleyball title

CEBU, Philippines - The ferocious Spiking Jaguars of University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) swept the Univesity of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Spiking Panthers in their best-of-three finals series anchored on a precarious four-set victory  in Game 2 to capture the collegiate men's volleyball crown of the 13th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) season last night at the USJ-R Basak Campus gym.

Just like in their nerve-wracking win over five sets in the opener, USJ-R of coach Grace Antigua again found USPF a tough costumer to handle, but the Jaguars fought with sheer courage and determination to pull through a hard-earned 25-23, 32-30, 24-26, 25-23 victory to the delight of the pro-USJR crowd.

The Jaguars started out aggressively, while USPF struggles with too many violations, bad receptions and service errors.

USPF though was able to move on right away, taking command of the second set only to falter in the end.

Seemingly overwhelmed at the same time exhausted from a very long second set, the Jaguars let the Panthers do the talking in the thrid set where USPF zoomed to a commanding 15-5 lead behind the efforts of Left John Tormis, Troy Imperial, and John Michael Ylanan. USJ-R staged a daring counter-attack but USPF hang on to a close 26-24 decision to stay alive.

In USPF's eagerness to forge a decider, all the more they got into trouble, allowing the Jaguars to go ahead in the early goings of the fourth set. USPF seized the upperhand, 14-13, but USJ-R quickly regained the lead and the deftly dictated the pace of the match on the way to a game-clinching 25-23 win.

It was no less a resounding triumph for the Spiking Jaguars, who last won the CESAFI title in 2011 when they beat the University of San Carlos.

 Aside from snaring the coveted championship, the Jaguars also claimed the first ever finals MVP award courtesy of Mark Kevin Petancio, a former setter of the Philippine Youth team.

“We really wanted to win so badly. We worked hard for this and we did it .We also thanked all those who came here to support us,” said Petancio.

 Earlier, Southwestern University (SWU) grabbed the bronze medal after crushing the University of the Visayas, 25-20, 25-23, 25-14 in their battle for third place. (FREEMAN)