Ranran Abdilla. –BVR PHOTO
SIPALAY CITY – National team mainstay Ranran Abdilla and young star Honey Grace Cordero seek to rule the Beach Volleyball Republic on Tour Sipalay City leg for a second straight season with different partners starting Saturday at Poblacion Beach here.
Abdilla will now have Alas teammate AJ Pareja as his partner, while Cordero will tandem with fellow National University stalwart Kat Epa.
Last year, Abdilla won with Rancel Varga as his partner via a five-match sweep, while Cordero won the 2023 championship with a perfect 5-0 record with sand court veteran Roma Joy Doromal.
READ; BVR on Tour: Ranran Abdilla, Rancel Varga win back-to-back titles
Australia’s New South Wales Phoenix stalwarts Luca Rocker-Graham and Killian Donovan will add spice to the men’s competition.
Cordero, a proud native of Silay City, headlines a bevy of Negrense standouts who are no strangers to the BVR on Tour.
The Negros tandem Bea Tan and Bianca Lizares, paired for the first time, hope to wow their provincemates will their vast experience on the sand.
One of the BVR founders, Tan is an alumna from University of St. La Salle in high school, while Lizares, a former Palarong Pambansa MVP who has been competing in the tour since 2018, is a product of St. John’s Institute.
READ: BVR on Tour: Candon, Sipalay legs set for June
Far Eastern University’s Melody Pons, younger sister of former BVR champion now PVL player Bernadeth, hails from Talisay City, and seeks to perform well at home with Gerzel Petallo.
Other Negrense stars vying for the crown are Pontevedra’s Erjane Magdato and Perper Cosas, UNO-R’s Edrilyn Garbajosa and Kyla Gallego and two teams from Sipalay, the pairs of Kimberly Babe Deuyan and Trisha Gene Geneblaza, and Japttia Rose Arquiro and Princess Kyle Judilla.
Completing the women’s cast are the pair of Strong Group Athletics’ Gen Eslapor, a national team standout, her younger sister Euri, and the tandem of UST’s UAAP champions Sofiah Pagara and Khy Progella.
Alas B’s Varga and Lerry Francisco, UST’s Aldwin Gupiteo and Dom Gabito, Far Eastern University’s Kyle Retiza and Mikko Espartero, La Salle’s Andre Espejo and Chris Hernandez, Air Force’s Pol Salvador and Edwin Tolentino, Cebu’s Samlet Booc and Michael Marabe, and two Sipalay pairs, Ivan Sanao and John Lloyd Guntan, and Johnrel Talita and John Joseph Mirasol are also vying for the men’s crown.
The BVR delegation arrived here Thursday.