Through pouring rain, Cignal B stops Meralco. Photo by Marc Reyes
Wensh Tiu and April Ross Hingpit of Cignal B fought through a thunderstorm to boot out Meralco while Bea Tan and Pau Soriano of Foton Hurricane stopped Petron XCS Saturday to advance to the semifinal in the PLDT Home Ultera Philippine Superliga Beach Volleyball Challenge Cup 2015 powered by Smart Live More.
Tiu and Hingpit, playing together for the first time on shifting sands, refused to get affected by the elements as they trounced Jem Gutierrez and Jusabelle Brillo, 21-14, 21-18, in the rain-marred match at SM By the Bay in SM Mall of Asia.
When the weather calmed down, Tan and Soriano turned back Petron XCS’ Gretchen Ho and Charo Soriano, 21-12, 18-21, 15-7, to also advance.
Cignal B and Foton Hurricanes were to fight for a slot in the final later Saturday night against the winners of the two other quarterfinal matches.
“Fortunately for us, most of the time it rained when we practiced,” said the 24-year-old Tiu, one of the head-turners in the tourney. “The more important thing is that we tried to enjoy and have fun in the rain.”
Rains came in big drops as Cignal B posted a 9-3 lead in the opening set, but Meralco kept the match close with Brillo, veteran of beach volleyball from Visayas, and newcomer Gutierrez keeping their defenses up.
But there was no stopping Tiu and Hingpit from delivering the killer blows, firing timely drops on the soaked turf to take the first set with seeming ease.
Brillo and Gutierrez came off with a hot start in the second set to lead, 4-2, but match was halted on account of thunder and lightning. The match resumed after 20 minutes and Meralco padded its lead to 7-4.
But Cignal B maintained its strength to keep it tight. Tiu flicked a drop for 19-17 Cignal B lead. And after trading errors, Hingpit slammed a service ace for the match.
“At first we were nervous but we tried to limit our errors and steady on our service which is our first attack,” added Tiu, who played beach volley for La Salle-Dasmarinas before suiting up for Lady Archers in indoors.
In the morning action in men’s, Champion Infinity B of Marjun Alingasa and Tippy Tipgos, and SM By the Bay of Jade Becaldo and Hachaliah Gilbuena downed their respective opponents to set a finals duel in the tourney backed by Accel as official outfitter, Senoh as official equipment and Maynilad as official water provider.
Champion Infinity B stopped Cignal A of Sandy Montero and Edmar Bonono, 21-23, 22-20, 15-10, while SM By the Bay routed Centerstage of Rence Melgar and John Carlo Lozada, 21-13, 21-16.