RC Cola-Army’s Gonzaga, Bautista rule PSL beach volley

RC Cola-Army’s Jovelyn Gonzaga and Nene Bautista celebrate after winning the Philippine Superliga beach volleyball crown. Marc Anthony Reyes/INQUIRER

RC COLA-ARMY’S Jovelyn Gonzaga and Nene Bautista parried everything thrown at them by the intrepid tandem of Foton’s Cherry Rondina and Patty Orendain to crown themselves the queens of the 2016 Philippine Superliga Volleyball Challenge.

Before a huge Sunday crowd at Sands at SM by the Bay at Mall of Asia gounds, Gonzaga and Bautista fought off sustained attacks by Rondina and Orendain to score a 21-18, 18-21, 15-13, triumph.

Gonzaga, who kept her unblemished stint in the beach competitions, slumped on the sands as Bautista dived on her after their opponents returned long at match point.

“We really held on to it from start to finish, they are really serious about it,” said Gonzaga who admitted she got scared a few times throughout the match. “I’m only human. I was also scared we would lose.”

Rondina stole the hearts of the fans with her high-flying hits.

“Her percentage on kills was very high, you can’t under estimate that,” added Gonzaga, who played for the Philippine beach volleyball team in the 2011 Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia.

They traded leads most of the way with Foton even leading 12-11 in the third. But the jitters and the crowd got the better of Rondina and Orendain who committed back-to-back errors.

“Things happened so fast after that,” said Gonzaga who fired a down the line hit for match point.

Gonzaga and Bautista hurdled Petron XCS’ Bang Pineda and Aiza Maizo-Pontillas, 15-21, 21-15, 15-11, while Rondina and Orendain booted out FEU-Petron newbies Bernadette Pons and Kyla Atienza in the morning semifinal matches.