Sand, sea and beach volley

There was a call that came from the seas. It told of an island that lay waiting. Soon, someone held claim on its sand. Here, battles took place. Able bodies clashed. Here, strengths collided. Limits, tested. Before long, masters were proclaimed. Feasts were laid out in their honor. And everywhere on the island, there was some kind of a celebration.

Those were days of hard-bodied action and nights of intoxicating pleasure. They were moments brimming with fun and excitement. The energy was intense. The vibe, sensual. The parties, exhilarating ... And the iced tea, splendid! Did I mention it’s Nestea?

Nestea brought the heat to the shores of Boracay once again for the much anticipated Nestea Beach Volley 2006. This time around, it worked closely with sponsors like Speedo, Mikasa, Cebu Pacific, Le Soleil Boracay Hotel, Villa De Oro Boracay Beach Resort and Hotel, Canon Powerhot Digital Cameras, Hey! Jude Resort, Boracay Gold Crowne Club, Club Ten Resort, D’Mall D’Boracay, La Salle Greenhills, Schering-Plough Coppertone, ClicktheCity.Com, Crystal Sand Resort, Bantay Kalikasan ABS-CBN Foundation, and Nautilus by PJ Arañador.

Now celebrating its 10th year, Nestea Beach Volley has taken volley action to a much grander scale! Needless to the say, the competition was fiercer, too.

The battle started early on. It was last March when 72 teams from 43 colleges and universities marched over to La Salle Green Hills to fight it out for the first time. From here, 24 teams proved worthy to advance to the semi-finals. Everyone’s game plan was to grab a spot at the finals in the hope of becoming the champion of this much anticipated volleyball league. All 24 teams came to the shores of Boracay to do this last May 4-6. As you would have guessed, Young Star was there, too.

There were familiar faces among the men with Luzon-based defending champions College of St. Benilde coming back along with the volley men of Adamson University, Far Eastern University, and St. Francis of Assisi College.

Even more volley men emerged from the Visayas, including Foundation University, University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos, University of San Carlos, and University of San Jose-Recoletos. Meanwhile, coming all the way from Mindanao were the volley warriors from Ateneo de Davao University, Capitol University, Mindanao State University, and University of Mindanao-Davao.

Ready to serve heart-stopping action were the volley women of Adamson University, College of St. Benilde, Letran College, and University of Baguio from Luzon. From the Visayas came the able women of the University of San Agustin, University of San Jose-Recoletos, University of Southern Philippines, and University of the Visayas. Not to be missed were the ever-determined volley belles of Holy Cross of Davao College, Mindanao State University, University of Mindanao-Davao, and University of Mindanao-Tagum.

The stage was definitely set for one of the most exciting, mind-blowing, thrill-spiking seasons of the Nestea Beach Volley. And everyone just couldn’t wait to get the action started, starting with the semi-finals.

Teams spiked and served with all their might but in the end, only some emerged as the ultimate victors. Four teams each for both men and women’s divisions battled it out to take one step closer to the championships. These were the College of St. Benilde, Capitol University, Adamson University, and Mindanao State University for the men. From the women’s division came the volley belles of the College of St. Benilde, University of San Jose Recoletos, University of Southern Philippines, and University of San Agustin. Only two teams from each division advanced to the most awaited stage of the league. These were Adamson University and Mindanao State University for the men and College of St. Benilde and University of San Jose Recoletos for the women. They all knew what was coming ahead. It was either you spiked or you got spiked.

Now came the grandest of matches – the championship – and all the players knew the trophy was just a couple of serves and spikes away.

Before long, Janilyn Sarabia and Faith de Guzman of College of St. Benilde claimed victory against University of San Jose Recoletos’ Mechell Matuguina and Julett Mae Marikit. Meanwhile, Mike Alinsunurin and Sherwin Meneses of Adamson University defeated Mindanao State University’s Gabshar Tahiluddin and Yusop Abdulkarim.

Claiming the third place for the men were College of St. Benilde’s Janely Patrona and Rael Pio de Castro while it was University of Southern Philippines’ Marissa Lagancia and Elen Pongase for the women. Taking home a fourth place finish were Capitol University’s Orpheus Cubillas and Jose Carlos Cagadas for the men and Nerissa Bautista and Krista Marie Dolendo for the women. Special awards were also given. Mike Alinsunurin was named this year’s Most Valuable Player.

It was a special event for all these athletes though victory tasted bittersweet. With all of them in their senior year in college, it also marked their final year of playing in this league. But the players were definitely living in the moment – which was not that hard to do when you’ve got a lot of exciting things happening all around you.

Volley action also caught up with a number of celebrities as they happily participated in a two-day celebrity match. Lending their glamorous presence were Professional Models of the Philippines’ Valerie de los Santos, Nicolette Bell, Mikee Carrion, Garry Dulatas, Iago Raterta, Ornussa Cadness, Bubbles Paraiso, Iago Raterta, Borgy Manotoc, JR Isaac, Niña Dolino along with celebrities Jaja Bolivar, Maui Taylor, Rovilson Fernandez, Jennifer Lee, Tisha Silang, Jay Eigenmann, Mondo Armedilla, Thea Froekjaer, Geoff Rodriguez, and Brad Turvey.

All of the celebrities played hard ball, sweating it out on the sand from the semi-final matches all the way to the heart-stopping championship match. For the championship match, Team A composed of Raine Romero, Brad Turvey, Iago Raterta, and Jennifer Lee battled it out with Team B’s Maui Taylor, Nicolette Bell, JR Isaac, and Mondo Armedilla. Team B defeated Team A with a final score of 15-12.

While the celebrities gave all they’ve got, another team of cuties came to spread the Nestea love. Gorgeous and getting hotter, the Nestea Beach Volley Team 10 is a team of five guys and girls ready to show everyone how to have beached-out fun the Nestea way. They are Rachell Siapco and Lemuelle of Lyceum, Lin Chui San of De La Salle University, Melanie Cassie Umali of San Beda College, Raphael Lorenzo Bediones and Naeem Badr of College of St. Benilde along with Zigmund Froi Nicolas and Melchor Faustino from Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

The fun and celebration continued into the night as an endless stream of parties flowed. It started with a taste of reggae when MTV Lokal hosted a party at Summer Place.The following night gave way to the Laid Back Groove at Café del Mar. Fashion shows also brought scintillating heat to the night with the latest in summer must-wear from Speedo and Nautilus by PJ Arañador. Last and the grandest was the Set Point Victory Party at Hey! Jude. The very hot Pinoy singer Bamboo took the stage along with all-time groove man DJ Manolet Dario. Hosts with the mostest Brad Turvey and Tisha Silang kept the party alive well into the night.

It must also be said that when Nestea parties, it parties responsibly. Yep, Nestea truly cares about its environment and so it decided to hook up with Bantay Kalikasan to facilitate a Beach Clean-Up Drive.

The Nestea Beach Volley plunges right into the spirit of fun and excitement every single year. The fun truly never ends. And the surprises keep getting better. So keep living the Nestea life of fun, fun and ... fun! See you next year for another exhilarating, action-packed Nestea Beach Volley!