Lady Tams loom as title favorites

BORACAY—Last year’s last placer is one of this year’s title contenders.

Burying the memories of their 2004 campaign, Far Eastern University continued to crush the opposition as the Boracay phase of the ninth Nestea Beach Volley got going yesterday in this sun-blessed beach famous for its powdery white sand.

Rolan Macahia and Jesse Lopez, who finished 12th and dead last in last year’s Boracay competitions, reaffirmed their new billing as tournament favorites, going 2-0 and assuring themselves of a slot in the next round.

"Sana lang nga hanggang dulo na," said Lopez, a tanned 19-year-old Sports and Recreation Management student. "Kailangan pa din maganda ang ilaro namin sa next round dahil kung hindi, bale wala din ang dalawang panalo na ito."

The FEU pair continued to show remarkable improvement by beating University of Mindanao Tagum, 21-15, in the morning and men’s defending champion University of San Jose Recoletos, 21-15, in the afternoon.

The identical wins scored before a big summer crowd that also braved the intense summer heat installed Macahia and Lopez, both tall and lean, as one of the forces to reckon with this year.

The USJR tandem of Joseph Alguno and Jonrey "Air" Sasing failed to get its vaunted game going against the bets from FEU. They trailed, 3-6, and only threatened at 13-14. FEU won seven of the next nine points to wrap up the match.

The defending champions fell to an even 1-1 record, counting its 21-15 win over UM-T earlier in the day. But all’s not lost for the team, which only needs to perform well today to advance in the next round.

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.

Adamson also went 2-0 after a 21-15 win over Ateneo de Davao and a 21-19 squeaker over University of Southern Philippines. Others in strong contention for the men’s crown and the P100,000 top prize are St. Francis of Assisi (1-1), University of San Carlos (1-1), University of Southern Philippines (1-1) and St. Benilde (1-0), another one of the favorites.

In the women’s side, Southwestern U remained on track toward a third straight crown while University of Mindanao Tagum, USJR and University of Visayas continued to lurk behind. UMT-2 is the only women’s team at 2-0 as of presstime.

The spikers from Tagum, Liezl Manatad and Mylin Que, crushed Philippine Christian U-Manila, 21-13, before scraping past Foundation U, 21-19.

At 1-0 and favored to win their next matches were Southwestern, a 21-18 winner of Holy Cross of Davao; USJR, a 21-5 winner of Mindanao State U; and UV, a 21-14 winner over University of Mindanao.

Aside from the P100,000 top prize for the men’s and women’s champion, P50,000 worth of sports equipment will also go to the schools they represent.