Rondina-Pons cops beach volley title

MANILA, Philippines - Cherry Ann Rondina and Bernadeth Pons of Petron Sprint 4T capped a perfect run in the Belo Philippine Superliga (PSL) Beach Volleyball Challenge Cup, beating Fiola Ceballos and Patty Orendain of Generika-Ayala A, 21-12, 21-8, to sweep the crown before a huge crowd at the SM By the Bay in Mall of Asia last night.

Considered as two of the best sand players today, Rondina and Pons dished out top form from start to finish en route to claiming the championship.

Rondina, the 20-year-old UST standout and one of the smallest participants here at 5-6, stood tallest as she later bagged the MVP honors.

The native of Compostela, Cebu, however, shared her award to Pons, a fellow 20-year-old spiker from FEUwho hails from Talisay, Negros Occidental.

“I couldn’t have achieved this without her,” said Rondina.

Bang Pineda and Frances Molina of Petron XCS turned back the pair of Danika Gendrauli and Jackie Estoquia of Sta. Lucia, 10-21, 21-14, 15-9, to clinch third place honors.

In the classification matches, last year’s champion Jovelyn Gonzaga and Maica Morada of Cignal HD B took fifth spot by edging Cignal HD B’s Mylene Paat and Janine Marciano, 21-15, 26-28, 15-11.

Perpetual Help’s Bianca Tripoli and Marijo Medalla trounced Cocolife’s Wensh Tiu and Abie Nuval, 21-13, 21-19, for seventh.

Earlier, Generika-Ayala’s Anthony Arbastro and Calvin Sarte proved a perfect match as they clipped Cignal HD’s Edmar Bonono and Erickson Ramos, 21-17, 21-18, to bag the men’s crown.

Teaming up for the first time after Arbastro’s original partner Kris Guzman backed out at the last minute to work on his thesis at UST, the Generika-Ayala duo turned out as dominating as they swept all their seven matches on their way to victory.

“He was impressive when I saw him (Sarte) play in one of the tournaments we joined and I’m glad he was available when we asked him to team up with me,” said Arbastro, a UST Sports and Wellness Management graduate who won the UAAP and National Beach Volley championship with Guzman.

Sarte, who played college ball for Holy Cross of Davao, also thanked Arbastro for tapping him.

“I’m happy that he (Arbastro) chose me as a partner and that we eventually clicked even though we only trained for three days,” said Sarte, a marketing management major.