Mapua, La Salle spikers move on

Mapua Institute of Technology I and University of St. La Salle-Bacolod I downed their respective rivals yesterday to advance to the quarterfinal round of the Nestea Beach Volleyball University Challenge at the CCP Complex.

Banking on some crucial defensive plays, MIT’s Albert Alano and Eliezer Collado stunned the fancied pair of Jamel Macasamat, half of the team which placed third in last year’s staging, and Jerome Capada of University of San Juan de Recoletos-Cebu, 12-9, to gain a berth in the next round of the men’s division.

Alano and Collado made key adjustments after trailing 8-9 that saw them block Macasamat’s powerful spikes to win the last four points and the game as Mapua topped Group 3.

USLS-Bacolod I’s Cecille Tabuena and Glenda Pintolo, who made it to Boracay last year but now playing with different partners, outclassed the Letran I tandem of Sherylyn Carillo and Abigail Latigay, 12-4, in the women’s side.

"Nung lumamang sila, nag-time out agad kami at nag-adjust lang kami ng konti sa depensa. Buti na lang napigil naming ’yung momentum, nila," said Alano, a fourth year mechanical engineering student.

De La Salle University I bounced back from a second round setback to early qualifier USLS-Bacolod I by sweeping their last four games, the last a 12-4 win over Letran I, which blew two chances of barging into the next phase.

La Salle’s beauteous tandem of Demeilee Chua and Sheryl Magallanes scuttled the listless pair of Carillo and Latigay, 12-4, half an hour after downing Philippine Christian University-Taft’s Cherrylyn Reyes and Romalyn Mangaliman, 12-5.

The other quarterfinal slot in the men’s group was still being disputed by USJR-Cebu I and University of San Carlos-Cebu, which kept its quarterfinals bid with a 12-11 squeaker over Adamson University.