Superliga beach volley qualifiers complete

Foton Tornadoes blew past Meralco, 21-14, 15-21, 17-15, in a duel between eventual women’s quarterfinalists from Group C late Saturday in the PLDT Home Ultera-Philippine Superliga Beach Volleyball Challenge Cup 2015.

Fiola Ceballos and Patty Orendain hacked out the win over Jem Guttierez and Jusabelle Brillo just before a thunderstorm hampered play at Sands by the Bay of SM Mall of Asia in Pasay.

Also making it to the next round are Group A’s Cignal B of April Ross Hingpit and Wensh Tiu and Petron XCS of Gretchen Ho and Charo Soriano; Group B’s Foton Hurricanes of Bea Tan and Pau Soriano and Gilligan’s of Danika Gendrauli and Jane Diaz; and Group D’s Amy’s of Samantha Dawson and Marleen Cortel, and Philips of Rossan Fajardo and Aileen Abad.

The men’s semifinal cast includes Cignal A (Sandy Montero-Edmar Bonono) and Centerstage (Rence Melgar-John Carlo Lozada) from Group A; and SM by the Bay A (Jade Becaldo-Hachaliah Gilbuen) and Champion Infinity B (Marjun Alingasa-Tippy Tipgas) from Group B.

Playing in the rain, also-ran Cignal HD Spikers A of Cha Cruz and Michelle Laborte bowed out in style by downing erstwhile undefeated Foton Hurricane of Pau Soriano and Bea Tan, 25-23, 21-14, while Gilligan’s of Danica Gendrauli and Norie Diaz edged Petron Sprint, 18-21, 21-17, 15-9.