Abanse Negrense A’s Alexa Polidario and Erjane Magdato topped Sta. Lucia A’s DM Demontano and Jackie Estoquia, 21-15, 21-17, on Sunday to dominate the 2021 Gatorade-Philippine Superliga Beach Volleyball Challenge Cup at the Subic Bay Freeport sand courts.
Polidario knocked down clutch hits in the winner-take-all finals to help the Negrense squad rule the bubble tournament staged in cooperation with the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases Central Luzon and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
“We really wanted the championship that’s why we went here,” Polidario said. “We’re happy and we feel blessed for winning the title even if we were just first-timers in the PSL. I hope we made the whole of Negros proud.”
Abanse Negrense A were awesome during the entire tournament supported by Cherrylume, Ube Express and Subic bay Peninsular Hotel with Cocolife, Cocogen Insurance, Data Project and Genius Sports as technical partners.
Despite having no serious training because of the pandemic, Polidario and Magdato swept the pool play before sending Javen Savas and Jonah San Pedro of Toby’s Sports packing in the quarterfinals.
They clashed with the seasoned pair of Bang Pineda and Jonah Sabete of Sta. Lucia B in the semifinals, but were hardly threatened as they pulled off a 21-18, 21-12 win to punch a ticket to the finals.
Magdato said she hopes that their victory would etch Negros as the hotbed of beach volleyball in the country.
“This win is such a huge blessing for us, especially for our province,” Magdato said. “This is a testament that the Negrenses are talented in volleyball as well.”
Abanse Negrense team manager Carmela Gamboa was elated over the victory, saying that their players showed that they could stand their ground against seasoned foes from Manila.
“Although we wanted to have both Negrense teams in the finals, we’re happy because we still achieved our goal,” said Gamboa, a member of the Philippine National Volleyball Federation board of trustees.
“We’re happy to be part of the PSL’s historic return and we’re excited to go home to our province. I’m sure our Gov. Bong Lacson is so proud of us,” she said.
Abanse Negrense B finished third, Sta. Lucia B settled for fourth, F2 Logistics fifth, United Auctioneers sixth, Toby’s Sports seventh and Kennedy Solar Energy-PetroGazz eighth.