ALAS Pilipinas standouts Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons staved off a strong resistance from compatriots Khylem Progella and Sofia Pagara, 21-17, 18-21, 15-12, for a winning start in the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour (BPT) Futures Nuvali on Friday in the City of Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
The veteran duo recovered from a second-set meltdown, stamping their pedigree and chemistry under the scorching heat in a tightrope decider for a 1-0 slate in Pool A.
“We go all out. We feel no pressure and we expect nothing, especially since we had very little time to prepare. We give our all to the best of our abilities, this is all for the country,” said Pons, eyeing a redemption on the sands after an indoor heartbreaker with mother club Creamline in the Premier Volleyball League.
Up against the young but fiery tandem from University of Santo Tomas, Pons and her long-time partner Rondina leaned on steely resolve to mark a triumphant return on the sands tourney organized by Philippine National Volleyball Federation led by its president Ramon “Tats” Suzara, the concurrent AVC president and executive VP of the FIVB.
Known as the ‘SiPons’ tandem, Rondina and Pons won bronze medals in the Southeast Asian Games twice in 2019 at home and 2022 in Vietnam before being left out of the picture in 2023.
The duo then focused on indoor volleyball from there, Rondina with Choco Mucho and Pons with Creamline, before a much-awaited return to beach volley as part of their preparation for another SEA Games hurrah, this time in Bangkok later this year.
“We have committed to train in beach volleyball because we want redemption in the SEA Games. We train until December,” Pons vowed.
Meanwhile, Honey Grace Cordero and Kat Epa stumbled against Lithuania’s Ieva Dumbauskaite and Gerda Gruzsinskaite, 17-21, 17-21, in Pool B of the main draw after a rousing win against the fancied Charlotte Graham and Emma Hannagan of Australia in the qualifiers, 21-11, 21-8.
The Cordero-Epa duo also beat Keiko Urata and Minami Asano of Japan via comeback, 17-21, 21-11, 15-12, in the qualifiers late in Day 1 to barge into the main tournament.
In the men’s main draw, 2024 Beach Pro Tour silver medalist James Buytrago and Rancel Varga got off to a flat start after 21-23, 12-21 loss to Israel’s Tamir Hershko and River Day in Pool D.
Lerry John Francisco and Edwin Tolentino also folded to Tomas Semerad and Adam Miroslav Stocek of Czechia, 13-21, 9-21, in Pool C of the world-class tilt backed by Ayala Land, Nuvali Evoliving, Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Sports Commission, PLDT Home, Rebisco, Akari, Mikasa, Microtel by Wyndham South Forbes, Cignal, One Sports, Pilipinas Live, Senoh, Alibaba Cloud, ialchemy, One Over Zero Technologies and Supreme Infotech Solutions.
