CEBU, Philippines - The University of Southern Philippines Foundation and Southwestern University both opened their bid for supremacy in the men's division of this year's Cebu School's Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) volleyball tournament with a convincing wins against respective foes.
But fans will get to know who is better of the two as they face each other tonight in the main game at the Aznar Coliseum.
USPF claimed their first victory at the expense of last year's runners-up, University of the Visayas, 25-21, 25-17, 25-21.
After several battles on the sand, Edmar Bonono and Mike Abria have extended their brewing rivalry on indoor volleyball.
On the other hand, SWU was just as aggressive as USPF as they pulled away a straight set win against the University of Cebu in their first game.
It was a tougher match for SWU though with UC giving them a hard time in each set that ended at 25-23, 25-22, 25-19.
Before SWU takes on USPF tonight, the Cebu Institute of Technology University will face Cebu Doctors University squad at 5:30 pm.
Last Monday, USFP's female counterparts played like it’s their last as they defeated defending women's champion USC in the deciding set, 22-25, 25-27,25-19, 25-20,15-13.
USC started out well, winning the first two sets, but failed to to hang on and gave the third set to USFP.
With momentum on their side, USPF continued to pounce on that led to fifth set.
Though already very tired, the USPF girls tried to remain focused to win the game.
USC men's team also started their title defense on a wrong foot after the University of San Jose-Recoletos winning their match in straight sets, 25-16, 25-21,25-17.
On the other hand, last year's runner-up Southwestern University also posted a convincing three-set win against the University of Cebu, 25-13,25-10,25-20.
It was not a totally bad day for USC though as its secondary girls put-up a gallant move to defeat the secondary girls' defending champion, University of San Jose-Recoletos in the decider,13-25, 25-19, 25-15.
USJ-R's boys team who is also the defending champion of the men's division made sure not to suffer the same fate as their girls following a convincing 25-18, 25-21.
The USFP secondary girls also had a good start after posting a 25-23, 25-17 against UC. (FREEMAN)