St. Benilde belles reign in Nestea volley

BORACAY — Faith Ann de Guzman and Janilyn Sarabia yesterday made sure that their final stint in the Nestea Beach Volley Championship would be a very memorable one.

"That’s all we wanted from the start," said de Guzman moments after St. Benilde defeated University of San Jose Recoletos, 21-12, 12-21, 15-13, in the women’s final at the jampacked Hey! Jude sandcourt here.

De Guzman and Sarabia, both tall, tan, young and lovely, would have finished their studies by the time this annual Nestea event is held once again next summer.

"At least we made our last year in this Nestea tournament very memorable. We didn’t really expect to win the title because there are stronger teams from the Visayas and Mindanao," said de Guzman.

"Of course, we’re very happy," said de Guzman after she and Sarabia handed St. Benilde its second women’s beach volley crown this year following their victory in the NCAA last February.

An hour after the St. Benilde victory, Adamson followed suit with a shorter, easier win over Mindanao State University, 21-17, 21-18, for the men’s crown.

It was the first time Adamson won the men’s crown and also the first for St. Benilde to emerge women’s champion. Adamson won the women’s title in 2002 while St. Benilde was crowned men’s champion last year. Again, it was the first time since 2000 that both champions represent Luzon.

The victory was worth P100,000 each for the champions, and P50,000 worth of sports equipment for their school.

"Of course, we’re very happy," said de Guzman after she and Sarabia handed St. Benilde its second women’s beach volley crown this year following their victory in the NCAA last February.

After wrapping up the victory, De Guzman and Sarabia embraced each other for quite some time before approaching the net to shake the hands of USJR’s Mechele Matuguina and Julett Mae Marikit, who gave their rivals some scare early in the third and final set.

Adamson, represented by Mike Alinsunurin and Sherwin Meneses, were never really in trouble against the jump-serving Gabshar Tahiluddin and Yusop Abdulkarim of MSU.

Meneses drilled in a powerful spike to seal the match for Adamson. Then they started to celebrate with Alinsunurin throwing sand into the air as they were joined and hugged by their coach Domingo Custodio and some Adamson supporters from among the crowd.

"Hard work. Hard work," said Alinsunurin who has this habit of kissing the ball as he prepares to serve. He said it’s just for good luck.

Alinsunurin said the victory was so sweet since it was also MSU which ousted them in last year’s crossover semis. "It was payback time," he said.

In the women’s semis, St. Benilde downed University of Southern Philippines, 21-11, 18-21, 15-8, while USJR clobbered University of San Agustin, 21-18, 21-13. In the men’s side, Adamson ended Capitol University’s fairy tale campaign, 21-15, 21-13, while MSU defeated 2005 champion St. Benilde, 24-22, 21-17.

The tournament was sponsored by Le Soleil de Boracay, Speedo, MTV, Power Shot, Hey Jude, Mikasa, Cebu Pacific, Seventeen, D-Mall, Villa de Oro, Club Ten, Schering-Plough Coppertone, Crystal Sand Resort, ClicktheCity.com, Boracay Gold Crowne Club, Bantay Kalikasan ABS-CBN Foundation, Nautilus by PJ Aranador and La Salle Greenhills.