Wensh Tiu displayed steadiness on the sandy turf to lead Cocolife past F2 Logistics A Thursday at the start of the Belo-Philippine Superliga beach Volleyball Challenge Cup at The Sands at Mall of Asia complex.
Delivering drop shots and diving for defense, Tiu and Aby Nuval scored a 15-21, 21-18, 17-15 win over former UAAP beach volley champion Cyd Demecillo and Fritz Gallenero.
“I’m quite familiar with her (Demecillo) so it really helped,” said Tiu, who won the UAAP title two years ago in partnership with Kim Fajardo.
But Tiu also credited their preparation for the four-day meet, which included tune-up matches with F2 Logistics.
Cocolife actually had a rough start and had to grind out to level the match at one set all.
“We had a chance to really dominate but we have fallen to a string errors,” said Tiu.
Also posting impressive win was the Perpetual Help pair of Marijo Medalla and Bianca Tripoli, who downed Generika-Ayala B of Kat Arado and Rosalie Pepito, 21-19, 21-16.
In the men’s side, IEM crushed Wayuk, 21-13, 21-12; SM By the Bay routed IEM B, 21-15, 21-16; Cignal ripped Perpetual Help B, 21-10, 21-19; and Generika-Ayala clobbered Wayuk, 21-12, 21-12.
SM By the Bay defeated TVM, 21-12, 21-11; Perpetual Help B edged IEM A, 21-19, 21-17; Perpetual Help A frustrated IEM B, 21-17, 21-13; and Generika Ayala overwhelmed IEM A, 21-7, 21-7.