Top teams run show in Nestea VB

Tickets to the Boracay stage of the 2005 Nestea Beach Volley will be hotly disputed today when the Luzon eliminations of the sizzling summer event come to a close at La Salle Greenhills.

After two days of competition, the men’s and women’s favorites continued to sizzle heading into the quarterfinals where the four winners from each group move on to the next round.

In the men’s division, St. Benilde, Far Eastern U and UP Diliman once again lived up to expectations, beating separate foes for similar 2-0 records and the inside track on the eight quarterfinal slots.

St. Benilde, last year’s NCAA champion, spanked winless St. Jude College, 21-8; FEU outlasted St. Francis of Assisi, 21-18; and UP Diliman stopped Perpetual Help in overtime, 23-21.

In the women’s side, PCU Manila, also the NCAA title-holder, and St. Benilde, the runner-up, posted 3-0 records by beating Adamson, 21-10, and UP Diliman, 21-7, respectively.

The PCU and St. Benilde lady spikers are already in the quarterfinals where they will be joined by six more teams. The four winners in the quarterfinals will earn slots to the Boracay stage on May 5-7.

The same goes with the men’s division today. From 16 teams, it will be reduced to eight by noon and to four late the afternoon — the survivors also earning tickets to sunny Boracay.

Only a 3-0 record serves as an automatic ticket to the quarterfinals. In case of a logjam at 2-1, the quotient system using the points for and against of each of the teams will be applied.

"At least nasa quarterfinals na kami," said PCU’s Romalyn Manzano, in her fifth Nestea beach volley but has never reached Boracay where the semis and finals are held.

"Pero wala din ito kung hindi maganda ang ilalaro naming sa quarterfinals. Ni hindi pa naming alam kung sino ang kalaban eh," she added of the cross-over phase.

Sporting even 1-1 records in the men’s division were La Salle, which defeated St. Louis Baguio, 26-24, and St. Francis. At 1-0 and also playing as of presstime were PATTS, Pampanga Agricultural School and Adamson.

The six quarterfinals slots in the women’s side is a tossup among Ateneo (2-0), Adamson (2-1), University of Baguio (2-1), Lyceum (1-1), St. Jude (1-1), Letran (1-2), University of Asia-Pacific (1-2), St. Louis (0-2) and San Sebastian Cavite (0-2).

The annual tournament presented by Nestea, the official summer drink, takes a break tomorrow and resumes Tuesday for the two-day Visayas elims featuring a dozen men’s and women’s teams.

The Mindanao elims with eight teams from each division will be held Thursday. Again, the top four men’s and women’s teams from the Visayas and Mindanao will be in Boracay.

This year’s sponsors are Speedo, Mikasa, Cebu Pacific, Hey Jude Resorts, La Salle Greenhills, Villa de Oro, Coppertone, Boracay Regency, Power Plant Mall, National Sports Grill and Click the City.com.

Champion teams will receive P100,000 each and P50,000 worth of sports equipment for their respective schools.