Arellano U tops UST in Nestea volley

MANILA, Philippines - Arellano U pulled off a tough 21-18, 21-19 win over fancied University of Sto. Tomas in the men’s finals, but the UST Lady Tigers beat the La Salle-Taft spikers, 21-12, 21-18, to capture the women’s crown in the Metro Manila leg of the 15th Nestea Beach Volleyball Championship at the First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities (FAITH) sand court in Tanauan City recently.

John Carlo Lozada and Chris Salvador, the NCAA back-to-back champions, used their quickness and better teamwork to thwart the Tigers and clinch a berth in the national championship for the first time.

“They really prepared hard for this tournament. And we hope, we can again display a better performance in Boracay. We’ll give our best shot,” said Arellano coach and national team member Sherwin Meneses.

The UST Lady Spikers more than made up for their men’s counterparts’ setback as they toppled the Lady Archers to lead five other qualifiers from the National Capital Region to the Boracay finals.

Maruja Banaticla and Judy Ann Caballero jumped to an early 5-0 lead and went on to finish off Wensh Tiu and Kim Fajardo in less than an hour.

“They (Archers) are fast, but we have better defense that’s why we were able to beat them. This is not yet our best game, there are still many things to improve on and we will spend our remaining time honing up our skills,” said UST mentor Emil Lontoc.

Also advancing to the finals set April 19-21 are the pair of Angela Benting and Ma. Paulina Soriano of Adamson, who beat Arellano U?s Angelica Legacion and Elaine Sagun, 21-14, 21-8, in the battle for third.