Petron beach volley kicks off

MANILA, Philippines - The first leg of the 2011 Petron ladies’ beach volleyball tournament reels off today, 1 p.m., at the sand-courts of the University of the East-Caloocan campus, with a new set of participants raring to pit skills with the circuit’s veterans.

A total of 20 ladies with the looks and natural talent for the game will be divided into 10 teams to dispute the first leg championship of this novel open tournament, which has become one of the most anticipated beach volleyball competitions in the country today.

Organizer Tisha Abundo, a former commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission and was a national team volleyball star herself, said that the drawing of lots on which team faces who, will be held early morning today before the actual kickoff.

“This is the ninth year of the tournament. And in the first leg, we have a lot of young players coming in,” said Abundo.

The top two teams get automatic berths to the Petron volleyball battle of champions late this year, gathering past champions of the series in a grand finale that will finally determine the true queens of the sand-courts.

Favored in the first leg are collegiate champions Ana Alicia Adolfo and Alyanna Marie Gorospe from Philippine Christian University-Dasmariñas.

The two reached the finals of the first leg last year, with Ateneo standouts Asia Urquico and Jessica Morado ruling the first leg of this spikefest supported by Mikasa, Molten Balls and Speedo.

Urquico and Morado put away Adolfo and Gorospe, 21-10, 19-21, 15-7, in the best-of-three championship round held at the sand-court of the De La Salle-Health Sciences Institute.

Adolfo and Gorospe, however, won’t be given an easy time, with La Salle-Dasmariñas pair Iyari Yongco and Aileen Abuel, and the tandem of Iumi Yongco and Marie Desengano also expected to join the fray.