FILE – PH beach spikers Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons.
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines women’s teams started off on the wrong foot in the beach volleyball tournament in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games Friday at Subic Tennis Court.
Cherry Rondina and Bernadeth Pons, who are hardly ever beaten in the local circuit, bowed to Indonesia’s duo of Dhita Juliana and Putu Utami, 21-18, 16-21, 15-13.
The pair had two perfect championship runs in the Philippine Super Liga Beach Volleyball Challenge Cup in 2017 and 2018 and also made it as far as the quarterfinals of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Boracay Open last May.
In the other match, Dzi Gervacio and Dij Rodriguez faired worse, losing in two sets against Indonesia’s other pair of Desi Ratsanari and Allysah Mutakharah, 21-14, 21-16.
Earlier, their men’s counterparts went 2-0 against teams from Timor Leste.